A million Texas children are without insurance

[MelissaB]

A million Texas children are without insurance
Emergency room primary source of care for many

By Chris Tomlinson Associated Press
Posted April 8, 2012 at 10:22 p.m., updated April 8, 2012 at 10:22 p.m.


AUSTIN, Texas — More than a million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.

The startling condition of the state's children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The analysis of official state and federal data by the nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Priorities found that 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance.

Almost 40 percent of Texas mothers received little or no prenatal care and one in seven babies were born premature, statistics show. The difference between being insured and uninsured is stark: 90 percent of insured kids are healthy, while only 58 percent of kids without insurance are considered healthy.

It comes as no surprise that the percentage of children covered by health care is directly related to the employment rate and the parent's economic status.

With 25 percent of Texas children living in poverty, a rate that consistently runs 5 percent above the national average, Texas ranks 41st in the nation in number of uninsured kids, even though the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.

Link: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/apr/08/a-million-texas-kids-without-insurance/?partner=popular

[MannyGoldstein]

1. There is a sickness in this country

We must fight for change.

[sonias]

2. So where is the outrage from the right wing?

Oh that's right, they don't care about living children. Only fetuses.

[TBF]

3. It's bizarre - I guess they don't care if they can't get anywhere near an ER

I've had to take my kids on an occasion or two and it's difficult when you have an actual emergency because the waiting rooms are full of folks with colds that should have been taken care of in a normal doctor's office. I'd really like to see some sort of public option so folks can have preventative care and office visits. Why not remove the age restriction from Medicare and let folks buy in?

[Vogon_Glory]

4. The Stereotype About Right-Wingers Is Too Often True

Our stereotype about right-wingers has too often proved true. Right-wingers are very interested in children between conception and birth, then they become &quot ethnic minority) welfare parasites."