To most of the world, yes. But to the United States, and to Texas in particular, it’s apparently not a priority. The figures are disturbing.
Among the world’s 30 most developed countries, the United States is nosed out by only Mexico and Turkey for the highest percentage of uninsured — one in seven Americans, for a total of more than 46 million, 8 million of whom are children. Texas leads the nation in uninsured, with 5.5 million. Of these, about 1.5 million are children.
Yet studies have shown that investing in children’s health is a bargain, according to a timely report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, “The Economic Impact of Uninsured Children on America,” by Vivian Ho, the institute’s chair in health economics and associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Marah Short, a senior staff researcher in health economics.
They wrote that research provides “compelling evidence” that coverage of all American children would yield immediate health improvements as well as “long-term returns of greater health and productivity in adulthood.” And the bottom line is that while the “upfront incremental costs” are relatively modest, they will be more than offset by the value gained.
The research showed that a lack of health coverage currently costs about $15,500 per male child and $11,600 per female child in lost “health capital.” Other research suggested that insurance per child through age 18 would cost about $7,500.
We should be paying close attention: On the national front, President Barack Obama and Congress are engaging in the most drastic overhaul of health care in 40 years, in which children’s issues will play a major role.
Here in Texas, we have just witnessed the demise of bipartisan legislation that would have expanded the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover about 83,000 more Texas children, by including families who currently earn too much to qualify for the program, but still cannot afford private insurance.
It was sensible, cost-effective legislation, especially given that the federal government pays 72 cents of every dollar spent on CHIP, and state funds had already been set aside. But it fell victim to grandstanding from both parties on other issues, which ran out the clock, and to hints of a veto from Gov. Rick Perry were it to survive the session.
That’s just one example of what Obama, in a news conference Tuesday, called the “unsustainable” state of the nation’s health care. “Reform is not a luxury,” he said, “it is a necessity.”
Few would disagree. The trick will be how to effect that reform. Studies such as this one from the Baker Institute can be valuable tools in getting there.
