Health insurance for all U.S. children would be a bargain, study finds

Some things make so much sense they shouldn’t need explaining. Take children’s health insurance. If it leads to better outcomes for kids, their families, their communities and the economy in general, and if it’s been shown to be substantially cheaper than the alternative, isn’t it worth serious consideration?


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.

Florida child first in state to die from swine flu

Boston (HealthKnowItAll) - Health officials in the state of Florida have announced that a 9 year old boy is the first victim of swine flu to die in the state.

The boy haled from Miami-Dade County and is one of 417 Floridians to have fallen ill with the virus.

Since the outbreak of swine flu was reported earlier this year, globally more than 28,000 cases have been reported resulting in more than 100 deaths.

The virus originated in Mexico, and it is there where the majority of deaths have been reported.

Drug makers are rushing to develop a vaccine for the flu, but they say it will not be ready for up to 6 months.

Japan lifts ban on child organ transplants

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's lower house voted to scrap a ban on child organ donations, paving the way for patients aged under 15 to receive life-saving transplants here for the first time.

Current law bans organ transplants by children, a situation which activists say has claimed thousands of lives and forced many families to send children in need of transplants on costly overseas trips for surgery.

Under Japanese law, transplants have been rare even for adults because tough rules require donors to give prior written consent to having their organs harvested when they are brain dead, while their families must also agree.

The amended bill would scrap the age limit and the need for prior consent, unless the person explicitly opposed having their organs used, but it would still require family members of the children to agree.

The bill was approved by 263 to 167 votes and sent to the opposition controlled upper house. If it is rejected in the upper chamber, a two thirds majority in the lower house could turn it into law anyway.

The major political parties had told their legislators to vote according to their conscience. Only the Japanese Communist Party abstained, claiming that deliberations had not been sufficient.

The bill would also recognise patients who are brain dead as legally dead, long a controversial topic in Japan where many religious groups say a person is only deceased once their heart and lungs have stopped.

Japan adopted an Organ Transplant Law in 1997, but since then only 81 transplants have been carried out, compared to several thousand each year in the United States and several hundred annually in Europe.

The long-debated reform plans were fast-tracked this year after the World Health Organization signalled it would ask signatory nations in early 2010 to limit organ transplants to within their national boundaries.

In the move against so-called transplant tourism, which seeks to limit abuses, Australia, Britain and Germany have already announced they will refuse Japanese patients seeking organ transplants.