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Texas' healthcare and budget challenges are many. However, our state's children deserve to grow up as healthy as possible and we should ensure that they have access to top-quality medical care. Tough budget decisions must be made, but for the sake of Texas children, funding for children's health programs must be preserved.
Keep Kids Healthy
Investments in sound public health policies are the first line of defense against preventable injury, disease and disability and the resulting medical care costs.
Obesity
Being overweight increases a person’s risk for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and other costly medical conditions. Almost 20% of Texas children ages 10 to 17 are obese. Texas needs to improve efforts in schools and communities to support more physical activity and healthy eating.
- Childhood Obesity in Texas: The Costs, The Policies, and a Framework for the Future report by Abigail Arons, prepared for CHAT
- Gaining Costs, Losing Time: 2011 Special Report on the Obesity Crisis in Texas developed by the Texas Comptroller's Office.
- www.healthierkidsbrighterfutures.org provides information on education and advocacy events in communities across the country.
Immunizations
Immunizations that protect children against the dangers of vaccine-preventable diseases are one of the great successes of the medical care and public health systems in Texas. Death and disability from diseases like smallpox, polio, mumps and whooping cough have been dramatically reduced because of immunizations. This success requires continuing efforts to maintain high immunization rates among children. CHAT supports funding and strong state laws to improve childhood immunization rates.
Cover Kids
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There are more than 1.3 million uninsured children in Texas. Uninsured kids are less likely to receive the care they need and are more likely to use the emergency room for routine care. All children should have private or public health insurance that covers the comprehensive services that children need, from prevention to specialized care for the most complex problems.
- 2011 MACPAC Report to Congress - the report provides an overview of the Medicaid and CHIP programs and lays out the framework for future work on access to care, Medicaid payment policy and improving Medicaid and CHIP data collection and analysis
- Medicaid Works - a report on how public health insurance protects the health and finances of children and other vulnerable populations. Issued by First Focus and George Washington University School of Public Health
- KidsWell Campaign - dedicated to the successful implementation of federal health reform for America's children, the campaign has launched a website to monitor state and national health care reform implementation and opposition across the country.
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Build a High Quality Pediatric Health Care System
Children's hospitals are the pediatric safety net for all Texas children and have unique services and expertise. In fact, almost 25 percent of the patients in children's hospitals are transfers from other medical facilities that could not provide the necessary pediatric specialty care. Children's hospitals provide care to our state's most ill children - specialized care that they cannot receive elsewhere for congenital heart conditions, transplants, cancer and other serious illnesses.
Texas has one of the fastest-growing child populations in the country. To meet the needs of this growing population, it is critical to train and recruit more pediatric healthcare providers and to build the clinical facilities needed to provide services.
Child Health in Texas
Children's Medical Center's "2011 Beyond ABC - Assessing Children's Health in Dallas County", a comprehensive report on the quality of life for children in Dallas County, TX. Read Report
Cook Children's Medical Center Community-wide Children's Health Assessment & Planning Survey (CCHAPS). An on-going initiative to fully understand the health status of children ages 0-14 in the hospital's six-county service area. CCHAPS website - Link to 2010 CCHAPS Annual Report
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