IL groups build back better would improve children’s health / Public Press Service

CHICAGO — Illinois children’s advocates are pushing the U.S. Senate to pass the Build Back Better Act, after it was passed by the House last month.

They say it would improve Medicaid and CHIP, the federal children’s health insurance program, by providing 12 months of continued coverage to eligible children and making federal CHIP funding permanent.

Stephanie Altman, director of healthcare justice and senior director of policy at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, said Illinois already has 12 months of permanent coverage. However, she added, permanent funding for CHIP, along with lower premiums on plans under the Affordable Care Act, would make a big difference for Illinois families. She said the need was highlighted during the special COVID registration period.

“We had 54,000 people enrolled in the health insurance market during that time,” she said, “probably due to job loss and loss of health insurance, and of the need to enter the market, but also because there was more generous premium coverage.”

Altman said Build Back Better policies, from affordable child care to expanding the child tax credit, would help families ensure children’s basic needs are met. Opponents of the budget bill say it is too costly.

Build Back Better would also cover a person for 12 months postpartum, a policy already in place in Illinois. In a new memoir from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, co-author Joan Alker, research professor at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy and executive director of its Center for Children and Families , said postpartum coverage for mothers improves outcomes for their children. as well as. During the Trump years, she noted, one in 10 children nationwide experienced a gap in coverage.

“After seeing this troubling setback in the progress we had made as a country to reduce the number of uninsured children, that stopped in 2017 and started to go in the wrong direction,” she said. stated, “The Build Back Better Bill would be a real game-changer and start moving the country in the right direction.”

In Illinois, children in families of three earning up to about $69,000 a year are eligible for affordable health coverage through Medicaid and the state’s CHIP program, “Illinois All Kids.”

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Marylanders have one more week to purchase health insurance through the state-run insurance marketplace, and advocates hope more Charles County residents will.

The Maryland Health Connection has extended open enrollment through Feb. 28 due to the pandemic, one of the few states to do so. Nearly 5% of Charles County residents are uninsured, according to U.S. Census data.

Dr. Dianna Abney, Charles County Health Officer, said behavioral health and cardiovascular disease are major concerns and being insured can help people address them.

“And you will have access to someone who can guide you through your medical care and guide you through your health care,” Abney explained. “Not just solving problems when they arise, but making sure problems are avoided.”

Nine out of 10 Marylanders who enroll can receive financial assistance to pay for their coverage, with premiums as low as $1 a month, county officials say. Since open enrollment began in November, approximately 3,000 Charles County residents have signed up for health insurance.

The theme for this year’s Black History Month is “Black Health and Wellness”.

Angela French-Bell, vice president of the Charles County NAACP, said the theme helps draw attention to the health issues black people in Maryland have faced during the pandemic.

“This is the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted minority communities and placed a unique burden on black healthcare professionals,” French-Bell said. “For us, health equity is important, and an important part of that is breaking down barriers to health care.”

The number of black residents enrolled in Maryland Health Connection plans has increased more than 10% this year, according to state health officials.

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Ongoing research studies at a Philadelphia medical school focus on stress reduction interventions for healthcare workers suffering from burnout exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Daniel Monti, chair of the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at Thomas Jefferson University and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, said the eight-week virtual program teaches mindfulness and meditation, which can be useful for healthcare workers who have been overwhelmed with grief and illness during the pandemic.

Monti explained that it was not about replacing psychiatry but about providing tools to alleviate the lingering effects of stress and anxiety.

“A lot of us, we’re in that middle zone, where it’s not that it was an acute clinical diagnosis, but stress affects people,” Monti pointed out. “It has been very rewarding to work with the healthcare workers. We know how hard a job they have, and we want to support and help them in any way we can.”

Previous studies have shown that mindfulness strategies can be effective in fostering resilience and recovery in healthcare workers during the pandemic. Due to the stressors and high workloads of COVID-19, a 2021 study predicted Pennsylvania will be short of nearly 300,000 healthcare workers by 2026.

Monti noted that Jefferson also offers mindfulness programs to the general public. After nearly two years of the pandemic, social isolation and the difficult decisions people have had to make to protect themselves and others have taken their toll.

“Stress, in a way, is an exacerbation of the fight-or-flight mechanisms of the nervous system,” Monti noted. “This fight-or-flight mechanism is meant to be temporary until the perceived threat to survival passes. However, in a pandemic, it never goes away.”

Through meditation practices, participants can learn how to reduce the physical effects of long-term stress, as well as ways to better communicate strong feelings such as anger. Jefferson University’s Department of Integrative Medicine is the first of its kind in the nation.

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A hearing will be held today on a bill that would ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. The Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, also known as the SAVE Act, would prohibit doctors in Ohio from prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical procedures to people under the age of 18.

Proponents have argued that vulnerable young people confused about their gender become the subject of irreversible and drastic procedures.

Eliana Turan, board member of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and a transgender woman, said they were pushing a false narrative of young people in crisis.

“Let’s say you’re a 16-year-old trans kid. In most cases, you’re not going to walk into a doctor’s office and walk out with a bunch of irreversible body changes,” Turan argued. “It’s just not the standard of care in Ohio. I don’t think anyone is trying to push for it.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. The SAVE Act will have its first hearing with the proponent’s testimony at the Families, Aging and Human Services Committee.

Maria Bruno, director of public policy for Equality Ohio, said such a ban would take control away from doctors, counselors and parents, and harm the mental well-being of transgender and non-binary youth.

“The basic premise is that young trans people are just in a phase that they will grow out of,” Bruno explained. “That’s just not how science and research show it works. In fact, trans-affirming medical care decreases suicidal ideation.”

The SAVE Act has two sponsors and two dozen co-sponsors, all Republicans. Turan said that as an Ohioan, she thinks elected officials should focus on the important issues.

“As a military veteran who served six years in uniform during the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ era, this is not an example of the freedom and protection I worked so hard for. to give to my neighbours,” Turan said. remark. “That’s definitely not the way we should be treating our trans neighbors.”

An Arkansas ban passed last year is temporarily on hold pending a legal challenge. Similar bills have been introduced in more than 30 other states.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.

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