Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief Assignment Template for Part 1 and Part 2

Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief Assignment Template for Part 1 and Part 2

Part 3 Narrative

The issue of health insurance for low-income children is crucial since children’s access to health care is essential to their families and society. Access to health care significantly influences a child’s growth and development, physical and emotional health, and their capacity to reach their full potential as adults (Racine et al., 2014). Children have a high risk of developing preventable diseases if they do not access appropriate health care when they are sick or injured. Providing state-funded health insurance for these children is crucial to reduce morbidity and mortality rates among children and promote healthier communities. Children without health insurance are six times more likely to go without health care than children with private insurance or Medicaid (Racine et al., 2014). They experience delays seeking health care since their parents are usually concerned about payment. Therefore, it is essential that legislation on increasing coverage of CHIP be considered to provide health coverage to uninsured children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage.

            The role of the nurse in agenda-setting for healthcare issues is to identify issues faced by patients in accessing care and those faced by providers in care delivery. Nurses have a role in presenting these issues to policymakers and proposing solutions to address them to improve access to care and patient care efficiencies (Williams et al., 2018). Besides, nurses can apply their knowledge and experiences to develop a policy proposal to help reduce the common healthcare issues (Williams et al., 2018). In agenda setting, the nurse has a role in advocating for their patients in order to have policies that improve their access to quality care.

Conclusion

Low-income children face numerous problems, with access to health care being the most common and complex. Lack of health insurance is a major barrier in accessing adequate health care for this population in the United States. The Children Health Insurance Program was established to provide child health assistance to uninsured, low-income children effectively and efficiently coordinated with other sources of health benefits coverage for children. Presidents Obama and Bush sought to increase health coverage for low-income children and passed laws that expanded CHIP coverage to millions of children. On the other hand, President Trump’s agenda was to cut funding for CHIP, leading to high rates of uninsured children.

References

Racine, A. D., Long, T. F., Helm, M. E., Hudak, M., Shenkin, B. N., Snider, I. G., … & Committee on Child Health Financing. (2014). Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP): Accomplishments, Challenges, and Policy Recommendations. Pediatrics, 133(3), e784-e793. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-4059

Gorin, S. H., & Moniz, C. (2007). Why does President Bush oppose the expansion of SCHIP?. Health & social work, 32(4), 243. DOI:10.1093/hsw/32.4.243

Hern, L. S. (2020). Resisting “Politics as Usual”: The Obama Era of Healthcare Reform. In Single-Payer Healthcare Reform (pp. 127-180). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.