WASHINGTON, D.C.--Passage of a law last year that expands health insurance for children by $24 billion offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve children's health, but Congress and the federal government must take immediate steps to ensure that states are held accountable for meeting the goals of the new programs, according to two new reports from a committee of the Institute of Medicine. Congress must devote adequate funding to track the effectiveness of the state programs, and federal and state officials must develop new tools to monitor the programs' impact on access to care, use of medical services, and health outcomes and status.
America's Children: Health Insurance and Access to Care examines the relationship between children's health and access to care; a companion report, Systems of Accountability: Implementing Children's Health Insurance Programs, makes recommendations for state and federal officials who are implementing the new and expanded insurance plans.
"This historic new commitment to children's health holds the promise of improving the lives of millions of children," said committee chair Molly Joel Coye, director, West Coast office, The Lewin Group, San Francisco. "As the federal government, the states, and the private sector work to implement the new programs, it is critical that we learn what works and what doesn't. If we do not have reliable, consistent ways of collecting information, we will never know--and we will miss a critical opportunity to improve accountability in health care. The time for action is now, while these new plans are being established."
The five-year insurance expansion was passed as part of the Balanced Budget Act
of 1997. It allocates $20.3 billion for states to use in expanding private
insurance for children and another $3.6 billion to improve coverage under
Medicaid. While the states have been given great latitude under the act, the
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Contact: Dan Quinn, Dumi Ndlovu
news@nas.edu
202-334-2138
The National Academies
11-Jun-1998