How redeveloped health care will affect developing kids

The sweeping changes to America’s health care plan have left many people biting their nails in worry, or at the very least scratching their heads in confusion, as they wonder how their lives will be affected. Because the changes will be considered more ‘standard issue’ and less revolutionary for the youngest generation of Americans, it also matters a great deal how their lives will be different.

The reform’s $940 billion price tag is common knowledge; the  letters “bill” probably are not in the word “billion” by accident. But what everyone wants to know is, how will this change the weight of their own wallets? And speaking of weight, how will this affect their options when it comes to staying healthy, and what sort of treatments can they access now?

The several-thousand-page long document includes many provisions that will see start-up in the next year, so it makes sense that people need clear information quickly about how they and their families will need to adjust. One of the Acts involved is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which underlines possible improvements for children.

Writer Cynthia Ramnarace found six ways in which the Act will benefit kids, including greater access to health insurance, more funding for health programs in schools such as sex ed, instituting new workplace policies, and preventative measures for at-risk young people. Here is a look at the sources of health care access for youth  in 2008:

Ramnarace writes that one of the ways in which the bill will facilitate youths’ care access is  “insurers will no longer be able to deny children coverage based on pre-existing conditions” and those under 26 years old can stay on their parents’ plans if they aren’t provided their own by an employer. The Children’s Health Insurance Program will make sure that children whose parents earn either too much or too little to qualify for certain insurance benefits can still get low-cost health care.

More funding will also require schools to offer certain services, as indicated by the U.S Preventative Services Task Force:  “newborn hearing screening, eye exams, tests for certain genetic disorders and fluoride treatments for children living in areas with untreated water. Coverage for immunizations and well-child visits will be mandatory. Grants for programs to combat childhood obesity will also be available to community organizations, colleges, municipalities, health departments and healthcare providor(sic).”

School-age children aren’t the only ones being looked after by the bill, either. Breastfeeding rooms or stations will be mandatory, as per the bill, at companies with more than 50 employees.

Areas that are considered “high risk for low-birth weight babies, poverty, crime, domestic violence and substance abuse will be eligible for grants through the $1.5-billion Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program,” and the mothers of these babies and lower-risk ones are all potential recipients of aid from the Pregnancy Assistance Fund, which will use $250 million toward helping them.

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