Uninsured children

This from a recent Johns Hopkins' study:

Using more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005, the Johns Hopkins investigators compared the risk of death in children with insurance and in those without. Other factors being equal, researchers found that uninsured children in the study were 60 percent more likely to die in the hospital than those with insurance. When comparing death rates by underlying disease, the uninsured appeared to have increased risk of dying independent regardless of their medical condition, the study found. The findings only capture deaths during hospitalization and do not reflect deaths after discharge from the hospital, nor do they count children who died without ever being hospitalized, the researchers say, which means the real death toll of non-insurance could be even higher.


"If you are a child without insurance, if you're seriously ill and end up in the hospital, you are 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next room who has insurance," says lead investigator Fizan Abdullah, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Read the full report here.

From my perspective in inner city Dallas, I vote that every single child be covered by adequate health insurance like CHIP.

Support SCHIP to your Senators

The U.S. Senate is currently debating the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2009 (S. 275).

SCHIP helps ensure that children have access to affordable, comprehensive health coverage. It's one of the most effective public programs in the country.

SCHIP has helped cut the rate of uninsured children by about one-third since 1997.

If reauthorized, this program could reduce uninsured numbers nationwide by two-thirds.

In the current economic recession, SCHIP is more important than ever: polls consistently show that health care costs are one of the top concerns among families in tough times.

Please contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to:

Vote YES on the SCHIP Reauthorization; and

Vote NO on any attempts to weaken the bill's coverage for properly documented immigrants.

To find your U. S. Senators' contact information, go here.

E-mail, call or FAX an expression of your support today!

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