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Campaign for Children's Health Care
"When an Apple a Day Isn't Enough"
National Essay Contest
Resources for Students
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Writing about the importance of health care can be a tough challenge. Why does health insurance matter? The background information below may help you find the answers.
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Information for Participants Ages 9-13
Some reasons children go to the doctor:
- To get treated for accidents or injuries;
- To get medicine, shots, and immunizations;
- Because they do not feel well, for example, they might have a fever, cold, stomach ache, or ear ache;
- To get treatment for allergies;
- To receive their yearly check-up;
- To get their vision and hearing checked;
- To have their teeth cleaned and to get cavities filled;
- To go to therapy or counseling;
- To treat asthma; and
- To receive treatments for more serious illnesses like diabetes and cancer.
When people have health insurance, it is easier for them to see a doctor when they need to. It is important for all children to be able to go to the doctor because:
- Doctors and nurses give children the screenings they need to help make sure children can read their books, see the chalkboard, and hear their teachers at school.
- Doctors and nurses give children necessary medicine to keep germs from spreading and to prevent children from getting serious illnesses, like measles and mumps.
- Doctors and nurses help children heal faster so they miss less school, fewer music lessons, fewer sports practices, and fewer daily activities.
Doctors and nurses also help improve the lives of children dealing with more serious illnesses and conditions.
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Information for Participants Ages 14-18
More than 9 million children and young people in the U.S. are currently missing out on the benefits that health insurance provides. When all people, both children and adults, have health insurance, it is easier for them to obtain health care services like doctor’s visits and wellness check-ups. Health insurance provides people with the help they need to live healthier lives.
Health insurance makes it easier to obtain:
- Treatment for accidents and injuries;
- Vital medications and immunizations;
- Hearing and vision screenings;
- Care for more common childhood illnesses like fever, bronchitis, and pneumonia;
- Treatment for allergies;
- Treatment for asthma;
- Yearly physicals and wellness check-ups;
- Dental exams and fillings;
- Therapy and counseling; and
- Treatments for more serious illnesses like cancer and diabetes, and for chronic conditions like cerebral palsy.
Benefits of having health insurance:
- Students are better prepared for school. Health insurance plays an important role in ensuring that children and young people are in good health and are prepared to begin school. Being in good health means a child or young person can do things like attend school regularly, see the chalkboard, hear the teacher, and participate in classroom and recess activities—all essential parts of succeeding in school.
Uninsured children may be unable to get treatment for health problems that interfere with their ability to succeed in school. For example, uninsured children with poorly controlled asthma may not perform as well academically if their asthma causes them to miss many days of school. Research has found that children miss more than 14 million days of school each year because of asthma. Health insurance improves children’s ability to see a doctor or nurse and to get the treatment they need to control their asthma and miss fewer days of school.
- Insurance helps provide access to a usual source of care. A “usual source of care” is the medical provider a person sees regularly for primary care, usually a pediatrician for children and young people. Children with insurance are eight times more likely to have a usual source of care. And children who have a usual source of care are more likely to be up-to-date with their immunizations.
- Insurance enables young people to obtain health care services that prevent more serious illnesses and prevent other health problems from worsening.
- Insurance helps young people get the care they need so that they have fewer unmet needs. Some of the most common unmet health care needs among children include dental and vision care, but some uninsured children also go without prescription drugs, mental health services, and other types of important health care.
- Insurance helps eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities. While children of all races and ethnicities are uninsured, minority children are at greater risk of being uninsured. And without health coverage, minority children are more likely to have unmet medical needs and suffer higher rates of infant mortality, asthma, and obesity. Health insurance makes it easier for children of all races and ethnicities to get the treatment they need to live healthy and productive lives.
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Glossary of Selected Terms
- Chronic health condition: A health-related illness or condition that lasts for a long period of time (e.g. cancer, asthma).
- Health care: The care, services, or supplies related to the health of an individual.
- Health disparities: The differences in quality of health and health care across racial and ethnic groups.
- Health insurance: A type of insurance designed specifically to help people pay for health care. The insurance company pays the medical costs of the person with health insurance if the person becomes sick or injured. Sometimes these insurance companies are private organizations, which provide private health insurance, or government agencies, which provide public health insurance.
- Immunizations: The process by which a person becomes protected against a disease. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccinations.
- Mental health services: Diagnostic, treatment, and preventive care that helps improve how people with mental illness feel both physically and emotionally, as well as how they interact with others. These services also help people who are at risk of developing mental illness.
- Preventive services: Health care designed to prevent illness, such as flu shots.
- Pediatrician: A medical doctor who specializes in the care and treatment of children.
- Primary care: Care usually given by doctors who work in general and family medicine or internal medicine (internists), as well as those who treat children (pediatricians). A nurse practitioner (NP)—a state-licensed registered nurse with special training—can also provide this basic kind of health care.
- Underinsured: A person is underinsured if he or she has insurance that does not cover all necessary health care services. Underinsured people may have high out-of-pocket expenses, and/or they may decide not to obtain treatment because they cannot afford to pay for it.
- Uninsured: People who lack public or private health insurance.
- Unmet need: This can be any kind of health care that a parent reports his or her child has gone without. Unmet needs that are often reported include dental care and vision care, but some children also go without prescription drugs, mental health services, and other kinds of important health care if they are uninsured and their families cannot afford these services.
Click here for a pdf version of this information.
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