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What is the Child Watch Visitation Program?

What is the Child Watch Visitation Program?

What is the Child Watch Visitation Program?

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oth to <strong>the</strong>mselves and <strong>the</strong>ir patients as <strong>the</strong> underlying cause.• After adjusting for inflation. funding for community health centers fell by 38percent between 1981 and 1991. With shrinking resources and r<strong>is</strong>ing demand forimmunization services, 70 percent of all health centers have reported vaccineshortages in <strong>the</strong>ir clinics.<strong>What</strong> hasbeen <strong>the</strong> result of declining employer based health coverage?• In 1990. more than 25 million children under <strong>the</strong> age of 18 - 40 percent of allAmerican children - lacked employer health coverage. even though more than 85percent of all children lived in working families.• According to stat<strong>is</strong>tics from <strong>the</strong> American Census Bureau:•A full third of all white children lacked employer coverage in 1990. Of<strong>the</strong> 25 million children without employer coverage, 17.5 million (70 percent) werewhite. These children compr<strong>is</strong>ed n percent of all uninsured children that year.•More than 60 percent of black children and <strong>the</strong> same proportion ofH<strong>is</strong>panic children lacked employer health insurance in 1990. For <strong>the</strong>se children.employer insurance <strong>is</strong> now <strong>the</strong> exception ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> rule.If low-Income children have little or no health insurance, how can <strong>the</strong>ygain access to primary health care?• Medicaid <strong>is</strong> a vital source of coverage for children. Without Medicaid, <strong>the</strong>number of completely uninsured children (which in 1990 stood at 8.4 million) wouldhave r<strong>is</strong>en to more than 18 million. However, in spite of recent Medicaid expansions,little has been accompl<strong>is</strong>hed to truly dimin<strong>is</strong>h <strong>the</strong> problem. The collapsing employersystem for children in low and middle income households (annual incomes of between$11,000 and $46,000 for a family of 4 in 1991) remains unaddressed by Medicaidreforms for poor children. .<strong>What</strong> exactly <strong>is</strong> 'Medicaid'?• Medicaid operates much like health insurance. Supplied for through <strong>the</strong> localwelfare offices, it <strong>is</strong> a federal grant-in-aid entitlement program that provides open-endfinancing for state medical ass<strong>is</strong>tance programs for <strong>the</strong> poor. Persons determinedeligible for benefits are entitled to have payment made on <strong>the</strong>ir behalf for health careand services that are covered under <strong>the</strong>ir state plan when furn<strong>is</strong>hed by health careproviders participating in <strong>the</strong> program.2Source: The Health of AmeriCa's <strong>Child</strong>ren 1992, et at, <strong>Child</strong>ren's Defense Fund, Washington, D.C.42

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