Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book. It’s a look at how our children fare when it comes to health, education, economic well-being and the state of their communities.
As the numbers go, the Natural State has not fared well for many years, but that seems to be changing as certain indicators - including and especially the health of our children - look much better than they have in years past.
Arkansas now ranks 30th in the nation in the health category. All the health care indicators outlined in this year’s Data Book are “improved” compared to last year’s numbers. We have fewer low birth weight babies, fewer child and teen deaths, and the percentage of uninsured children hasfallen continuously.
This hasn’t happened by accident. It is the result of a coordinated, bipartisan effort to extend health coverage to vulnerable children through Medicaid and ARKids First. And it’s one that’s worked very eft ciently and become very popular. Since 1997, ARKids’s first year, the rate of uninsured Arkansas children has fallen from 22 percent to 6 percent.
In Northwest Arkansas, we have higher rates of uninsured children than therest of the state, however.
The data show that this is especially true among children of immigrants.
Statewide, almost 70 percent of children who were not born in the United States are uninsured. One-quarter of children whose families speak a language other than English at home lack health coverage.
One reason is Arkansas has not taken advantage of an opportunity to cover more lawfully-residing migrant and immigrant children, such as those who are born in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. These are children who migrate here with their parents, mostly to Springdale, and live here in accordance with federal law. They’re kids whose families move to Arkansas for work, for education and for a better life. Our government allowsthis in part because they lost a portion of their homeland to a U.S. military base that is deemed critical to our national security.
They’re left out of ARKids First under our state’s current system, but we can change that. Since 2009, federal law has allowed states to cover these and other lawfully residing immigrant children with federal funding, without unnecessary delay, just as if they were born in the United States. So far, 25 states have taken this option. Arkansas should do the same, especially because it means Marshallese children would qualify for coverage for the fi rst time.
Now is the perfect opportunity to do this. With Arkansas lawmakers’ wise decision this year to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Actthrough what became known as the “Private Option,” tens of thousands of low-income families will be able sign up for medical coverage for the first time this fall.
While the law won’t allow Marshallese parents to be covered by Medicaid, they can buy coverage in the new marketplace Arkansas will create for private insurance.
Meanwhile, we can make sure that their children have quality, eft cient, continuous coverage by taking this option to cover them under ARKids First. With negotiations ongoing over how our state’s Medicaid program will be altered under the Private Option health plan, and with our local nonprofi t groups gearing up to enroll families in coverage for the fi rst time, there’s no better time to take advantage of this opportunity.
After all, the point of gathering the annual Kids Count data is not just to compile numbers and assign rankings. It’s to inform us about how we can do better. What are other states doing that we’re not, and will their policies work here in Arkansas? How can we learn from what they’ve done to improve children’s health, even save their lives?
In the long run, we’re all better off if the most vulnerable children among us have the opportunities to live up to their full potential. This is how we inch closer to No. 1. That’s the point.
LAURA KELLAMS IS THE NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DIRECTOR FOR THE ARKANSAS ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.
Opinion, Pages 13 on 06/30/2013