Matt Van de Graaff and Elizabeth Beverly
Among the hundreds of bills being considered by the 2022 General Assembly Senate Bill 484 When House building 1012..
These bills will establish a program that guarantees access to health insurance for all children who call Virginia home, regardless of immigrant circumstances. It is important that Virginia takes this opportunity to cover all children and brighten the future of our children and our federation.
One of our patients, Rosa, is one of many children who face barriers to access to healthcare. She is 5 years old and comes to a free clinic run by our students for routine pediatric treatment. Meeting many other patients like Rosa and her is one of our favorite experiences as a medical student, but at the same time, many of these children are as easy to medical as their peers. It’s also frustrating to be inaccessible. Many of the children we see have undocumented immigration status and are not eligible for insurance to cover medical costs in the pediatrician’s clinic, so you have to come to a free clinic. It will not be.
Most children in Virginia have health insurance through one of many options. But there is an important group that is often left behind: children not born in the United States. Inequality in access and use of health care is amplified only by the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of children losing health insurance Nationwide. In total 4.9 percent of Virginia childrenOr nearly 100,000 children are currently uninsured.
In Virginia, undocumented children are disproportionately affected, 50 percent of them lack access to insurance.. These children do not have equal access to insurance coverage due to restrictions that prevent them from participating in the Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and health insurance reform markets. They are our neighbors and will undoubtedly contribute to the continued success of our community. Still, they are excluded from our health care system.
Due to the high uninsured rate, immigrant families are often delayed or forced to go without the necessary care. actual, Report of Kaiser Family Foundation “Uninsured children are more likely than insured children to lack regular sources of care, delay care, or have unmet medical needs,” he said. Even with common childhood illnesses, these children can tolerate poorer health and preventable hospitalization. I’m worried about what this means for the patient. What happens to Rosa when she needs urgent medical care? What if Rosa has an asthma attack? Will her family struggle to get the treatment she needs? This unfair access to health care not only worsens the health of children, but also increases the financial burden on the entire health care system.
Current, 10 states and Washington DC.. Plan to use or use state or district-only funds to provide health insurance to income-eligible children, regardless of immigrant status. New York has been doing so since 1990, and As of 2019, 97.6 percent of state children I am currently insured. In 2021, Virginia took an important step in passing legislation Call the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to research and recommend strategies for funding healthcare services for children with undocumented immigration status. Request. The workgroup was a constructive step forward, but it only makes sense if it leads to successful legislation that guarantees medical access for these children.
Nelson Mandela’s words come to mind when thinking about issues related to child health. “The sharp revelation of the soul of society is no better than the way we treat children.” Our community and our country are the foundation on which we become stronger by accepting and nurturing the people around us. It is built on top of.
Children like Rosa are at the same time the most vulnerable of us and still determine the strength of our future as a society. We have the opportunity to invigorate all children by creating a state that ensures the health of all children. In doing so, we nurture the ideas, talents and cultures of all Virginias and look to a brighter future for all individuals and communities in our federation. Raise our voice and take advantage of our existence to claim the right thing.Encourage our representatives (you can find yours here) Pass this law to support medical insurance and access for all children in Virginia. That is Virginia, which we want to call our hometown.
Matt Van de Graaf is a Virginia Lifetime Resident and a fourth-year medical student at Eastern Virginia Medical School. After graduating in May, he will pursue pediatric training. Elizabeth Beverly was born and raised in Virginia and is a third-year medical student at Eastern Virginia Medical School with an interest in pediatrics. She is the current co-director of Clínica Esperanza, a free clinic run by students dedicated to providing free health care to uninsured Spanish-speaking people in Hampton Roads.
