Children's health care in focus at national town hall meeting

Last week, administrators and staff from two hospitals in the Albany Diocese gathered with nearly 50 elected officials and healthcare professionals at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy to take part in a satellite broadcast of a national Town Hall Meeting.

The topic was health coverage for children that would be affected by pending congressional reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). It is a federally funded program for children in low-income families.

New York State's Child Health Plus insurance program, which is part of the SCHIP program, covers almost half a million children.

Hosts

Hosting the event locally were Seton Health/St. Mary's Hospital in Troy and St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam, both members of Ascension Health Inc., a Catholic non-profit health system based in St. Louis.

Gino Pazzaglini, president and CEO of Seton, said that "as Catholic healthcare providers, our mission drives us to advocate for 100-percent access to healthcare for all individuals, particularly children."

Sister Danielle Bonetti, CSJ, vice president of mission integration at St. Mary's in Amsterdam, concurred, saying, "Access to healthcare for every child is not a privilege; it's a right. For us, as faith-based healthcare providers, it's a moral imperative."

Uncovered

Mr. Pazzaglini noted that hundreds of thousands of New York kids qualify but aren't covered by Child Health Plus.

"We've managed to provide health coverage for half-a-million children," he told The Evangelist. "But we tend to look at that number and think we've accomplished enough. The fact remains that 441,000 children in New York who qualify for this coverage don't have it. That is not acceptable.

"Eighty-five percent of uninsured children live in families where both parents work. These are low-income, working families that are struggling to survive. When a child is sick, when immunizations aren't received, when vision and hearing tests or sick visits to the doctor are overlooked because parents cannot afford the co-pay or deductible fees, the child remains sick or there are medical issues that are not addressed."

Attention

Both Mr. Pazzaglini and Sister Danielle were encouraged by the meeting.

"I was surprised by the high attendance," said Mr. Pazzaglini. "This is a subject that is not high on the radar screen [of national awareness]. I would like to see more interest in this issue generated, and the Town Hall Meeting was effective in that respect."

Sister Danielle said innovative ways to assure that all children are covered were offered at the session.

"There are issues that prevent people from applying for this insurance," she noted. "Some families simply do not have the transportation to get to the sites for applying. Others may be illiterate and can't complete the application."

Additionally, she said, the application is complicated, and even some healthcare workers and insurance professionals find the process cumbersome. "Making the application process easier would be a good first step for many," she said.

Work of Jesus

"As a faith-based community," Sister Danielle said, "we believe that what we do here is the work that we are directed to do by Jesus. Our CEOs and staff are strongly committed to this effort. It isn't a choice; it's an individual right to have healthcare coverage that should be accessible to everyone who needs it."

Added Mr. Pazzaglini, "The Town Hall Meeting was very worthwhile. Creative ideas were generated locally and on the national level. We're all strongly committed to this effort."

(To learn more about Child Health Plus, go to www.health.state.ny.us.)

(1/18/07) [[In-content Ad]]