Editorial: Report card ranks Florida near the bottom in access to health care for children

A recently released report ranks Florida among the worst states in the nation in health services for children.

Why is that not surprising? It's not surprising because in recent years the state has ranked at the bottom nationally in almost every study done on child well-being. This is only the latest example of how the state is failing children and, despite the efforts of child advocates, significant improvements in the near future seem unlikely.

The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based health policy advocacy organization, ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia on how well they provide effective health care for children. On the 20 issues examined, including insurance coverage, insurance rates, infant mortality and childhood obesity, Florida came in the bottom quarter in almost every measure and 47th overall.

The state's low ranking was driven in large part by the number of children in the state without health insurance. Some 17.8 percent of the state's children have no health insurance, ranking second worst in the nation only to Texas at 18 percent. An estimated 600,000 to 700,000 children in Florida have no insurance, and no state ranks lower in access to dental care for children.

David Lawrence, chairman of The Children's Movement of Florida, said, "Here's the fourth-largest state in the union, blessed in so many ways, and simply not yet facing up to the fact that hundreds of thousands of children have no health insurance. We are surely better than that."

While Florida participates in the federal Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides insurance coverage for needy children whose family income exceeds Medicaid caps, the state's KidCare insurance program under CHIP is filled with bureaucracy and state lawmakers have attempted to limit participation in an effort to save money.

The Children's Movement of Florida has set five legislative goals to improve the lives of the state's children during the upcoming session of the Florida Legislature. First on the list is increasing state matching funds for KidCare to add another 300,000 children, or less than half of the number of the state's uninsured children.

Is that likely to occur? Considering recent history and the demands for budget cutting by reducing services as being touted by Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders, the prospects are not encouraging.

In its executive summary of its survey, the Commonwealth Fund said, in part, "A child's health, ability to participate fully in school, and capacity to lead a productive, healthy life depend on access to preventive and effective health care — starting well before birth and continuing throughout early childhood and adolescence."

Children have a powerful ally in The Children's Movement of Florida and its advocates throughout the state, including on the Treasure Coast. The movement isn't asking for more state funding, but for redirecting priorities to provide funding to assist our children in having a better quality of life for the good of the state's future.

What children in our state most desperately need, though, are allies as passionate among the elected leaders of Florida. If they exist, they've not been very evident lately.

Read the full article here.