In a recent article for the Los Angeles Times, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plans for healthcare reform in California have stalled and the state’s children are at risk.
The governor’s Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act, AB 1×1, would guarantee that even the “uninsurable” could get health insurance at an affordable rate. While the majority of senators agreed that the bill was a good effort to take on the health care system in California, the Senate Health Committee rejected it in January. Many of them refused the bill due to fiscal concerns, according to us.gov.
There may be some monetary concerns with the bill, but short term investments are a lot better than the millions of dollars that will be paid out by those who are currently paying health insurance premiums.
As of Dec. 2007, there were 750,000 uninsured children in California. While many children from low income families could qualify for federal and state insurance programs, one-third do not. These programs, such as California’s Healthy Kids, are in danger from funding deficits, which could result in the disenrollment of thousands of kids, according to the University of Southern California’s Center for Community Health.
Moreover, many of these uninsured children will end up getting care for mostly preventable illnesses, in hospital emergency rooms where they cannot be denied care, according to the California Health Care Foundation. These visits are causing many emergency rooms to go out of commission due to lack of funding, consequentially causing a snowball effect of even higher rates for emergency room visits.
Someone is responsible for paying these unpaid debts. That “someone” is the taxpayer base that is lucky enough to have affordable health care. Emergency room visits cost more than a regular doctor’s visit and are causing the premiums and co-pays for the insured to rise.
Sometimes the risk of a child being uninsured is greater than the incurred monetary cost. Because they cannot go to a doctor for regular and preventive check-ups, some of these children might not make it into the emergency room until it is too late. Illnesses that could have been treated with early detection may go unnoticed.
Health care for all may not come cheap, but it’s not only the uninsured who will pay in the long run. Everyone will pay the price of a poor health care system in California. Co-pays and premiums will increase until the currently insured join the ranks of those who are uninsured.
Health care reform is a necessity. Many uninsured children end up missing school due to untreated illnesses. Reforming our health care system is not only an investment for today, but our future as well.
Kim Thompson is a journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.
