Blog

On July 26, 2012, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office released an eye-opening report about the many opportunities that exist for children to gain health insurance coverage under the new health care reform law.

We would like to thank the employees of ITG for volunteering their time and energy painting apartments at a family homeless shelter in the South Bronx last week.  Children's Health Fund’s New York Children’s Health Project visits the shelter on a weekly basis to provide much needed health care services to the children and family members who live there.   The hard work and enthusiasm put forth by the volunteers will certainly help brighten the lives of the children and families who are experiencing such a difficult transition, and we are so thankful.

Dr. Manali Kanitkar, a pediatric dentist at our New York program, recently had a special guest visit her on our mobile dental clinic – Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street.  Abby stopped by for a check-up and to share some important news about a great resource for children and parents called Healthy Teeth, Healthy Me.

In the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the Affordability Care Act (ACA).  Provisions being looked at include the law’s expansion of Medicaid and the “individual mandate” that requires that everyone, including all children, have insurance coverage. The court will also consider whether striking a key provision of the law, in turn means that the whole law must be repealed or re-written.

March 23, 2012 marked the second anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we are encouraged that millions of children have already benefitted from this historic health reform law. And, millions more will be helped as additional benefits take effect in 2014.

As a result of the ACA:

President Obama's FY2013 budget proposal to Congress includes both cuts and increases to programs that support children’s health.

There are many positive highlights such as the investment of an additional $300 million to create 25 new health centers nationwide; additional incentives for 2,800 new primary care providers who practice in areas where there is an existing shortage of doctors and high poverty rates; and retaining the majority of funding for the implementation of national health reform.

Molina Medicaid Solutions in Louisiana recently donated jump ropes, healthy recipe cards, and books to our Baton Rouge Children’s Health Project, totaling more than $1,000 in donated items. The Baton Rouge program distributed the gifts to the children of Delmont Elementary School who also got to meet Dr. Cleo, Molina Healthcare's mascot.

Recently WeTopia Correspondent Will Miller Jr. boarded our New York Mobile Clinic to give the citizens of WeTopia (the new Facebook game) a close-up look at the children we serve and the people who care for them. The video features the kind-hearted Dr. Paula Pollard-Thomas and Senior Driver Steve Diaz. Steve is the quintessential New Yorker: No non-sense, all heart. “The buck stops here”.

When President Obama delivered his State of the Union address naturally the economy was a key point. We heard the President's plans and proposals to remedy the economic struggles we are facing as a nation. We know first-hand that the economy has been particularly harsh on children and their families and recovery efforts are a very important step in the right direction. We commend the president for his leadership on that front.

Imagine what it would be like if your child was sick, and he couldn't get the care he needed.  That is exactly what Patricia* faced for weeks, as her two-year-old son, Sam*, wheezed and coughed in her arms.  Patricia, a single mom, had just moved with Sam into a homeless shelter.