Press Statement on CHILDREN�S HEALTH CARE THREATENED
by Eileen M. Ouellette, MD, JD, American Academy of Pediatrics President

Washington, DC---�Tomorrow evening the president will give his assessment of the State of the Union, including ways to address health care coverage. Pediatricians will tell you that the state of children�s health care is being threatened. In just two days, the U.S. House of Representatives will cast a vote to decide whether poor children will continue to receive the medical care they need and deserve, or if child health will be sacrificed to help other special interests.�

�If the budget reconciliation bill passes on Feb. 1, states will be allowed to do away with guaranteed child health care services in Medicaid and charge co-payments for their medications and some of their medical care. This makes no fiscal sense. Children make up 53% of Medicaid recipients but only 23% of the costs because they are generally in good health.�

�The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicaid savings will not come from co-payments, but rather from families delaying needed medical care for their children. The reality is that when care is delayed, children are sicker when they are first seen, often in expensive emergency rooms and require hospitalizations more frequently, adding to health care costs, not reducing them.�

�We must not deny poor children medical care. The very idea of it should anger citizens across the country. Pediatricians are urging House members to reject this legislation and send it back to conference so that these harmful Medicaid provisions can be fixed. Not only is this a terrible mistake in fiscal policy, but more importantly, child health will suffer if it passes.�

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.