Originally published August 7 2005
Bringing health coverage to America's uninsured kids
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is preparing to launch its sixth annual "Covering Kids & Families Back-to-School" campaign. The goal: To inform working families that their children may be eligible for federal and state health coverage programs.
The number of children with medical insurance is increasing across the country, thanks to outreach efforts and streamlining of government eligibility requirements.
But among the millions of uninsured children, many of them African American and Latino, one in three goes an entire year without seeing a doctor, according to a report released yesterday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Angela Jones, executive director of D.C. Action for Children, hands out health insurance information and raffle tickets for donated school supplies during the health fair at the Kennedy Recreation Center in Northwest Washington.
In a Northwest Washington recreation center yesterday, Carmona spoke at the kickoff event for "Covering Kids and Families," the foundation's annual campaign to encourage parents to sign their children up for health insurance.
At the Kennedy Recreation Center at Seventh and P streets NW, an assortment of soccer stars, entertainers, health care officials and politicians joined Carmona for the release of the statistics.
At a health fair at the center, activists handed out bananas, pens and Frisbees; doctors gave vaccinations; and counselors offered options.
"I always thought that I could never get help," Harris said after hearing the news, as she pushed a stroller and herded her grandchildren through the maze of tables at the health fair.
Twenty percent of uninsured African American children went a year without a doctor visit, said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
With a spicy musical public service announcement recorded by salsa legend Willie Colon, the effort also will target Latino populations.
"I grew up in a very poor neighborhood.
Studies document improvements in coverage once states simplify their qualification process, said Cindy Mann, a research professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute.
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