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A million Texas children are without insurance
A million Texas children are without insurance
Emergency room primary source of care for many
By Chris Tomlinson Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — More than a million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.
The startling condition of the state's children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The analysis of official state and federal data by the nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Priorities found that 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance.
Almost 40 percent of Texas mothers received little or no prenatal care and one in seven babies were born premature, statistics show. The difference between being insured and uninsured is stark: 90 percent of insured kids are healthy, while only 58 percent of kids without insurance are considered healthy.
It comes as no surprise that the percentage of children covered by health care is directly related to the employment rate and the parent's economic status.
With 25 percent of Texas children living in poverty, a rate that consistently runs 5 percent above the national average, Texas ranks 41st in the nation in number of uninsured kids, even though the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.
More: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/apr/08/a-million-texas-kids-without-insurance/?partner=popular
Emergency room primary source of care for many
By Chris Tomlinson Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — More than a million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.
The startling condition of the state's children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The analysis of official state and federal data by the nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Priorities found that 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance.
Almost 40 percent of Texas mothers received little or no prenatal care and one in seven babies were born premature, statistics show. The difference between being insured and uninsured is stark: 90 percent of insured kids are healthy, while only 58 percent of kids without insurance are considered healthy.
It comes as no surprise that the percentage of children covered by health care is directly related to the employment rate and the parent's economic status.
With 25 percent of Texas children living in poverty, a rate that consistently runs 5 percent above the national average, Texas ranks 41st in the nation in number of uninsured kids, even though the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.
More: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/apr/08/a-million-texas-kids-without-insurance/?partner=popular
