MAUMEE, Ohio — A new alarming report has Ohio health officials looking for answers after it revealed the number of children in Ohio without health insurance grew for the second year in a row.
The study, conducted by Georgetown University, shows nearly 12,000 more children under the age of six without insurance in 2018, compared to 2016. Ohio now has the third-highest rate for uninsured children in the nation.
Ohio Medicaid covers nearly half of the children in the Buckeye state. Paramount is one of five providers that offer a Medicaid plan.
"Medicaid covers wellness preventative care, emergency urgent care," Dr. Dee Ann Bialecki-Haase, chief medical officer of Paramount said. "Really covers the gamut of healthcare including dental and vision care."
Lynanne Gutierrez, the policy director for Groundwork Ohio, a child advocacy group focused on early child development, stressed the trend is disturbing because the time period from prenatal to age six is critical to development.
"Any other strategies like intervention or home visits, or childcare," she said. "Preschool that we elevate is undermined if young children don't have access to the basic health coverage that needs to be healthy."
Health officials added if children aren't insured, they are missing out on vital preventative care like wellness checks and vaccinations.
"We have to make sure that children are developing appropriately," Dr. Bialecki-Maase said, "and identify and variations from that and address that in a timely way before those formative years are over."
"Kind of the fundamental needs we need to focus on for young children, is that prevention is the most powerful policy or practice that we can promote," Gutierrez said
While no one can seem to find an exact reason for the drop in coverage, Gutierrez believes some protections can be added to Medicaid plans, like building into Medicaid plans clauses that assure there is not a lapse in coverage.
"Private insurers do a really good job for example of making sure my toddler is covered when I even switch from my insurance to my husbands for example," she said. "We need that same accountability on the Medicaid side."
Gov. Mike DeWine's administration stated it is working to find the cause and make sure Ohio children are insured.
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