For the Children

When we deny adequate medical care to a mother, we are denying it to her children as well. An uninsured pregnant woman will certainly have greater financial strains after her baby is born than she did when she was pregnant. According to the FDA, even at the lowest income level, a mother is committing to at least $6000 in annual expenses to raise her child. The likelihood that she will suddenly be able to afford insurance is delusional.

To assume a child is automatically covered under state programs such as CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Programs) legislation is equally delusional. A Kaiser Family Foundation study indicates that “In 26 states, parents cannot get coverage even if their household income is below the federal poverty level.”

Children don’t just benefit from having insurance themselves, they benefit from having insurance for their entire family. Children who have insured parents are more likely to receive medical care because parents are familiar with the medical system, they know doctors and where they’re located. Children from insured families miss school less because they are not ill as often. Parents with health insurance struggle less with financial matters in general. Whether an employer pays it or the government pays it, families who aren’t devoting 10 or 20 percent of their income to health coverage have fewer financial problems. They can spend their money on basic needs, such as food, shelter and education.

For the children, the country’s 9 million uninsured children, insurance makes sense. Not just for them, but for the whole family.

Fighting for the uninsured and underinsured pregnant moms and their unborn babies,
Advocate Aaron