At Packard Hospital Forum, Experts Detail Why Kids Need Health Reform

“Kids can’t wait” was the theme of the day at the Child Health Forum on March 25, a gathering of doctors, nurses, nonprofit staff, teachers and others to discuss the future of health care for kids in California. The event, sponsored by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Health Fund, fortuitously coincided with the passage of massive health care reform legislation that Congress has been debating for more than a year.

However, the speakers emphasized that health care for kids goes far beyond simply having an insurance card. Other major factors, such as access to care, affordability, and parental health, will determine whether the health care reform efforts have a real impact on our state’s children and youth.

Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, lauded the passage of health reform efforts, but cautioned that other issues are not resolved under the new health care reform laws. He noted that a key issue for California is undocumented kids, who are not covered under reform, and asserted that it is in the financial interest of the state to cover these children through health insurance. Along with others, he cited the current shortage of pediatric specialists, another growing concern that is not fully addressed by health care reform.

From a parental point of view, Lisa Wise, mother of a young son with Crouzon Syndrome, discussed how having a chronically ill child leads some parents to shape their career decisions based on which employer has the best health insurance benefits. For parents like Lisa, health reform holds the promise of eventuallying providing more insurance options that are affordable and family friendly.

Dr. Paul Wise, the Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society at Stanford University School of Medicine, stressed the importance of taking care of parents as we focus on improving the health of kids. Children are poor because their parents are poor, he said, and insuring and nurturing mothers can lead to better health outcomes for kids. This reminds us all that as we seek to address the needs of children in California, we cannot neglect the needs of the parents who tend to these children every day.

Tags: Child Health Initiatives

Posted by Jordan Handcox

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