Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), preventative care has either been maintained or improved for more than half of the nation’s children – giving us reason to celebrate the achievements of the last two years.
We know that preventative care is vital to ensure healthy development in children. It helps to ensure children can thrive in school and helps promote positive health outcomes extending through adulthood. Maintaining and improving access to preventative care for children is extremely important, and we are happy to see that Wisconsin children – as well as children all over the nation – are benefiting from such improvements.
Recognizing the importance of preventative care is not new to our health care system; Medicaid and CHIP have helped children gain access to these services for many years. Thanks to the ACA, we see this commitment taken to a whole new level.
For many private insurance plans already (and all plans upon full implementation of the ACA in 2014), high costs associated with preventative care are no longer a barrier to families – especially those of lower incomes. High costs once deterred families from taking advantage of the benefits preventative care brings. Under the ACA, financial barriers are reduced – no co-pays, deductibles, or co-insurance– enabling children to receive preventative care at little or no cost – ultimately leading to improved health care outcomes and better, more efficient use of health care dollars.
How has it worked so far?
- 1 in 6 children has gained access to additional preventative services through their insurance plan
- 1 in 8 of the nation’s children are now eligible to receive no-cost preventative care
How has it worked for children in Wisconsin? According to estimates by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families:
- Roughly 281,500 Wisconsin children are now receiving the new preventative care benefit
- Nearly 209,000 Wisconsin children are now benefiting from preventative care at no-cost
- About 713,500 total Wisconsin children are now receiving preventative care (including 432,000 in Medicaid)
Preventative care helps us identify potential health risks before they become expensive health problems and, more importantly, keeps our children at their best possible health. As we celebrate this historical legislation, signed into law on March 23,2010, we should keep in mind that these reforms are just some of many that will enhance and protect the care that Wisconsin children and families receive. To read more about the preventive services benefit for kids, see the new CCF report.
For a broader overview of how Wisconsin children benefit from the ACA, see WCCF’s one-page fact sheet.
Lacy Langbecker
