1.2 million Texas children still without insurance
Associated PressCopyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press
Published 08:29 p.m., Sunday, April 8, 2012
Page 1 of 1
AUSTIN - More than 1 million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.
The startling condition of the state's children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The analysis of official state and federal data by the non-partisan Center for Public Policy Priorities found that 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance.
Almost 40 percent of Texas mothers received little or no prenatal care and one in seven babies were born premature, statistics show. The difference between being insured and uninsured is stark: 90 percent of insured kids are healthy, while only 58 percent of kids without insurance are considered healthy.
It comes as no surprise that the percentage of children covered by health care is directly related to the employment rate and the parent's economic status.
With 25 percent of Texas children living in poverty, a rate that consistently runs 5 percent above the national average, Texas ranks 41st in the nation in number of uninsured kids, even though the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.
When uninsured kids get sick, their parents have no place to take them other than a public hospital's emergency room, which by law cannot turn them away. And if those parents cannot pay the extremely expensive bill? The taxpayer picks up the tab.
"A large percentage of those kids will end up in the emergency room as their primary source of care, which is hugely inefficient and ridiculously expensive," said Dr. Skip Brown, a medical professor and director of a pediatrics center at the University of Texas Medical Branch
"When you go to the emergency department, those guys are not there to be primary care providers."
Critical care missing
Brown said the children also miss out on the most important factor in getting good care: a doctor who knows the patient and their medical history. Children with asthma and diabetes - chronic diseases best treated by a family doctor on a routine basis - comprise many, if not most, of the kids who show up in the emergency room.
"There are kids missing out on care," he added.
About half of the uninsured children would qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, if they applied, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Many of the parents don't know they are eligible, have not bothered to apply or the state has not finished processing their applications.
Programs score high
From 2007-10, Texas Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, for kids not quite poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, grew by 10 percent and did a good job of treating kids, according to an official review released last week.
Texas' programs consistently scored above the national average in treating asthma, diabetes and mental health issues. Customer satisfaction was consistently high, according to the independent assessment by the University of Florida.
Unfortunately, however, the Legislature cut state spending on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program by $2.03 billion for 2012-13, according to a budget analysis by the Center for Public Policy Priorities. More than $800 million of those cuts will be to reimbursement rates for doctors who agree to treat poor or disabled children.
The reduction in payments to doctors treating Medicaid patients will make it harder for patients to find care. Doctors can afford to have only about 25 percent of their patients on Medicaid to keep their business viable.
Lower reimbursements mean that fewer doctors will accept Medicaid patients, and more people will end up in the emergency room.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/1-2-million-Texas-children-still-without-insurance-3467592.php
While ammonia treated meat has been allowed as a beef filler for several years, the issue came to a head when the USDA announced that it would order 7 million pounds of the meat containing the beef filler for the National School Lunch Program.
"Transparency, knowledge and choice - that is what consumers need in their spending decisions," said Chris Petersen, a farmer from Clear Lake and Iowa Farmers Union president in a prepared statement about the rally. "The facts are now coming in and once again people are questioning our food system blessed by the FDA and USDA and a lot of politicians influenced by processors, industrial agriculture, lobbyists and campaign contributions."
Dave Murphy, of Clear Lake and Food Democracy Now! founder and executive director, said the ammonia treated meat scrap process hurts farmers because it reduces the demand for beef cattle.
"Real farmers and cattle producers don't support the use of pink slime in school lunches or our food supply. Not only does it suppress the price farmers receive for their cattle, but it also debases the quality of their product, something they take a lot of pride in producing," Murphy said in a statement.
http://ames.patch.com/articles/lftb-vs-pink-slime-on-iowa-state-university-campus-today
NOW, what's old slick rick perry of the Texas GOP been wanting to feed our children this time ???
no, not dead stock downer cows again, bbbut, how about pink slime, or what others call LFTB.
pink slime and a ship of fools, with Governor Rick Perry at the helm.
john gummer of England, force fed his daughter mad cow beef. a few years later, a young friend of theirs (23) died from mad cow disease. NOW, Governor Rick Perry, shows he is as big a fool as John Gummer.
http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2012/03/29/21/01/MiPpi.SlMa.81.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/30/article-0-01F258B0000004B0-450_468x286.jpg
see more on this sad sad saga here ;
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
PINK SLIME, MRM's, BSE AKA MAD COW DISEASE, AND THE USDA NSLP
http://madcowusda.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-slime-mrms-bse-aka-mad-cow-disease.html
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Rick Perry, Texas, BSE aka mad cow disease, CJD, and 12 years of lies there from
http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2011/08/rick-perry-texas-bse-aka-mad-cow.html
Associated PressCopyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press
Published 08:29 p.m., Sunday, April 8, 2012
Page 1 of 1
AUSTIN - More than 1 million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.
The startling condition of the state's children came into vivid focus last week with the release of the annual Kids Count survey. The analysis of official state and federal data by the non-partisan Center for Public Policy Priorities found that 1.2 million Texas children have neither private nor public health insurance.
Almost 40 percent of Texas mothers received little or no prenatal care and one in seven babies were born premature, statistics show. The difference between being insured and uninsured is stark: 90 percent of insured kids are healthy, while only 58 percent of kids without insurance are considered healthy.
It comes as no surprise that the percentage of children covered by health care is directly related to the employment rate and the parent's economic status.
With 25 percent of Texas children living in poverty, a rate that consistently runs 5 percent above the national average, Texas ranks 41st in the nation in number of uninsured kids, even though the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.
When uninsured kids get sick, their parents have no place to take them other than a public hospital's emergency room, which by law cannot turn them away. And if those parents cannot pay the extremely expensive bill? The taxpayer picks up the tab.
"A large percentage of those kids will end up in the emergency room as their primary source of care, which is hugely inefficient and ridiculously expensive," said Dr. Skip Brown, a medical professor and director of a pediatrics center at the University of Texas Medical Branch
"When you go to the emergency department, those guys are not there to be primary care providers."
Critical care missing
Brown said the children also miss out on the most important factor in getting good care: a doctor who knows the patient and their medical history. Children with asthma and diabetes - chronic diseases best treated by a family doctor on a routine basis - comprise many, if not most, of the kids who show up in the emergency room.
"There are kids missing out on care," he added.
About half of the uninsured children would qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, if they applied, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Many of the parents don't know they are eligible, have not bothered to apply or the state has not finished processing their applications.
Programs score high
From 2007-10, Texas Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, for kids not quite poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, grew by 10 percent and did a good job of treating kids, according to an official review released last week.
Texas' programs consistently scored above the national average in treating asthma, diabetes and mental health issues. Customer satisfaction was consistently high, according to the independent assessment by the University of Florida.
Unfortunately, however, the Legislature cut state spending on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program by $2.03 billion for 2012-13, according to a budget analysis by the Center for Public Policy Priorities. More than $800 million of those cuts will be to reimbursement rates for doctors who agree to treat poor or disabled children.
The reduction in payments to doctors treating Medicaid patients will make it harder for patients to find care. Doctors can afford to have only about 25 percent of their patients on Medicaid to keep their business viable.
Lower reimbursements mean that fewer doctors will accept Medicaid patients, and more people will end up in the emergency room.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/1-2-million-Texas-children-still-without-insurance-3467592.php
While ammonia treated meat has been allowed as a beef filler for several years, the issue came to a head when the USDA announced that it would order 7 million pounds of the meat containing the beef filler for the National School Lunch Program.
"Transparency, knowledge and choice - that is what consumers need in their spending decisions," said Chris Petersen, a farmer from Clear Lake and Iowa Farmers Union president in a prepared statement about the rally. "The facts are now coming in and once again people are questioning our food system blessed by the FDA and USDA and a lot of politicians influenced by processors, industrial agriculture, lobbyists and campaign contributions."
Dave Murphy, of Clear Lake and Food Democracy Now! founder and executive director, said the ammonia treated meat scrap process hurts farmers because it reduces the demand for beef cattle.
"Real farmers and cattle producers don't support the use of pink slime in school lunches or our food supply. Not only does it suppress the price farmers receive for their cattle, but it also debases the quality of their product, something they take a lot of pride in producing," Murphy said in a statement.
http://ames.patch.com/articles/lftb-vs-pink-slime-on-iowa-state-university-campus-today
NOW, what's old slick rick perry of the Texas GOP been wanting to feed our children this time ???
no, not dead stock downer cows again, bbbut, how about pink slime, or what others call LFTB.
pink slime and a ship of fools, with Governor Rick Perry at the helm.
john gummer of England, force fed his daughter mad cow beef. a few years later, a young friend of theirs (23) died from mad cow disease. NOW, Governor Rick Perry, shows he is as big a fool as John Gummer.
http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2012/03/29/21/01/MiPpi.SlMa.81.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/30/article-0-01F258B0000004B0-450_468x286.jpg
see more on this sad sad saga here ;
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
PINK SLIME, MRM's, BSE AKA MAD COW DISEASE, AND THE USDA NSLP
http://madcowusda.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-slime-mrms-bse-aka-mad-cow-disease.html
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Rick Perry, Texas, BSE aka mad cow disease, CJD, and 12 years of lies there from
http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2011/08/rick-perry-texas-bse-aka-mad-cow.html
