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Children's Hospital Boston and Community Catalyst, a consumer health organization, believe that Massachusetts and the entire New England region can achieve what no other state has done before-provide health care coverage for all its children.
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont lead the nation in providing access to health care for children, but more can be done to ensure that all children have the care they need to grow and thrive.
In 2006, Children's and Community Catalyst joined together to launch a New England-based campaign to expand children's access to high-quality, affordable health care. Nearly 800,000 children in the region rely on public health care coverage, and the six New England states receive close to $500 million through the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
"We had an ambitious goal to preserve and expand SCHIP and protect Medicaid coverage for children," says Joshua Greenberg, Children's director of Government Relations. "To do this, we realized that it would be important to harness the resources of our partners across New England."
Within two short years, the campaign has blossomed into the New England Alliance for Children's Health (NEACH), which today numbers more than 300 organizations and individuals, including providers, advocates, insurers, business leaders and interfaith organizations.
"NEACH has gained national attention for its effectiveness in working across state lines and can serve as a model for other states that want to extend their coalitions beyond their own borders," says Amy Rosenthal, senior policy analyst at Community Catalyst and program director of NEACH.
NEACH galvanized the New England Congressional delegation to become a driving force behind advancing children's health care. In the fall of 2007, nearly every member of the New England delegation voted in favor of a strong SCHIP bill that would expand funding for this program by $35 billion over 5 years. The bill passed through Congress but was vetoed by former President Bush and fell short of receiving enough votes for a veto override. The SCHIP legislation was one of the first bills to emerge from Congress under the new Obama Administration. On February 4, President Obama signed into law the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, expanding coverage to about four million additional children over the next four years.
Children's also has worked with NEACH in its effort to expand its agenda to include issues of quality and cost. "We want to establish national standards of pediatric care comparable to those instituted in adult medicine by promoting prevention and improved management of chronic diseases," says Greenberg. "Our hope is that we can show how this will reduce long-term health care costs to business, consumers and government."
For more information, visit childrenshealthne.org or contact Maia Fedyszyn, program associate for NEACH, at 617-275-2871. |
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