Quality Health and Access to Healthcare for Children
Quality health is one of the primary factors, which ensures appropriate children development. It is a fundamental right to the children regardless of their backgrounds. However, children from low-income families face significant challenges when it comes to accessing quality healthcare. As such, it is crucial to devise mechanisms of ensuring every child accesses quality medical care. One of the methods entails an insurance cover. Although it is an appropriate mechanism, it still disadvantages the children coming from low-income families, particularly due to the cost. The number of uninsured children in the United States is on a record low in large part due to Medicaid and the children's health insurance program. Therefore, this paper tries to answer the following research questions, are there disparities in the attainment of health insurance coverage between children from families of different social, economic status in the United States?
Contribution
Coverage for insurance among children is a critical factor, which assists children in obtaining quality health care. It is an essential factor, since children are unique from other people. For starters, Children are dependent on their caregivers for healthcare services, they cannot make decisions about healthcare services, which makes it vital for them to have insurance covers. There are; however, children who come from families which cannot access insurance covers; these children are usually from minorities, those from single parents, and those from poor and needy families. The paper addresses the importance of insurance covers in children (Isakson, 2011). The paper will try to analyze the sharp disparities of health insurance among children from different social statuses; this will assist in finding out the number of children which lack insurance coverage and how they can be able to access covers.
Theoretical Framework
Health insurance has become the principal means of paying medical care. Also, the lack of insurance coverage is the most significant barrier to access healthcare. Children who are not insured are three times more likely to have health needs that are unmet than children who are insured privately. One out of six children from needy families lack insurance coverage; this is a proportion which is twice as high. More than three-quarters of children from low-income families who have health insurance are covered by public plans, and only nine percent of them are covered by private insurance. Looking at children from wealthy families, 70% of them are covered by private insurance, and 26 percent of them rely on private insurance. Health insurance is valuable since it provides medical care to people (Michael E. Martinez, 2016). The three principal domains for the access of healthcare dental care, child immunizations, and physician care. The primary indicators of access to healthcare services in children are whether the children have regular places to go when they are sick, and the previous period when the children had been tested. Poor children are less likely to have places to go when they are sick and to have had check previously.
Data Source
Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include information that was obtained from hospitals and insurance companies to determine the gap in the number of children that had access to health care from poor and rich countries. The required sample size was an equal number of children from poor and wealthy families. Parents or guardians of the children were required to fill questionnaires, which contained information about insurance coverage. The study obtained a 73% response rate from the questionnaires and the interviews that were carried out. Data from the National Health Interview Survey of 2009 was also used and the national health and nutritional examination survey of 2007-2008.
Method
Quantitative methods of analyzing data were used. It entails the explanation of phenomena using numerical data, where the data is analyzed through mathematical based methods. The information that was obtained in this case aimed at determining the disparities in health insurance in children from poor and rich families. Data was analyzed by the SPSS computer application programmer, with the information presented in the form of statistical graphs and tables.
Key results
Children are the most vulnerable individuals in the society; hence, are in need of insurance covers. However, there exists a difference between children from needy families and those from wealthy families in the medical covers. Children from affluent families are covered by both private and public insurance; this assists them to access treatment anytime they need it. Their counterparts; however, from needy families do not have insurance covers, which hinders the children from accessing quality healthcare. As such, the group is prone to death emanating from lack of suitable treatment. Needy families cannot afford private medical covers that primarily insure majority of the ailments. It is worth noting that the public insurance are limited in terms of coverage. Currently, the number of uninsured children in the United States is at a historic low; this is mainly due to the role children's health insurance program, and Medicaid have played. The remaining percentage is nonetheless from children who come from low-income families since the eligibility of the insurance covers is based on the income and assets of the family (Proctor, 2016).
Implications
Most of the children from needy families do not have access to insurance covers; this is mainly because they cannot afford the covers. Children from the other side of the divide all have health insurance covers; they go to the extent of owning more than two covers. Children from the low-income families are however those who urgently require insurance covers due to the unhealthy lifestyles that they live. The government has however introduced programs such as the Medicaid and the child health insurance programs which assist low-income families to be able to access the insurance programs.
Critique
The information provided by the articles was influential in addressing the disparity that exists on the attainment of health insurance between children from poor and rich families. The information provided highlighted the immense gap between the wealthy and low-income earners when it comes to health covers. The use of bar graphs in some of the articles is relevant since readers can interpret the information that is presented. People tend to identify well with pictorial representation of data. The entire process including the information that was obtained is relevant since it showcases the various disparities. Nonetheless, one major drawback regarding the study is the failure to highlight the reasons poor families cannot access quality healthcare (Michael E. Martinez, 2016). Also, new information need to be obtained to substantiate the various claims. In other words, there is need to update the research via fresh findings. The current globe is evolving at a high rate; hence, research ought to embrace fresh ideas such as adoption of technology and robust data collection and analysis methods.
References
Isakson, D. S. (2011). Who Are America’s Poor Children? Examining Health Disparities Among Children in the United States. National centre for children in poverty.
Michael E. Martinez, a. E. (2016). Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,.
Proctor, B. D. (2016). Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the united states: 2010. Census Bureau.
