Well-baby visits, lead paint screenings, checkups at the dentist. For many parents, these are luxuries they can't afford for their children, and their health insurance won't pay for it.
All of that would change under President Clinton's health-care reform plan, which would provide some of its most generous benefits to children, children's advocates say. Under the plan, children would gain access to a wide range of preventive services that most parents now have to pay for themselves or do without (see box).From conception through adolescence, all children would be guaranteed a basic program of medical care designed to prevent illness - a change that would encourage parents to take their children to the doctor before a crisis develops. Visits to the doctor for routine exams, immunizations and preventive screenings would be covered for the first time.
"Much of this proposal is just like what we would have written ourselves," said Dr. Howard Pearson, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "I think it reflects the keen interest both the president and Mrs. Clinton have in children."
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a former chairwoman of the Children's Defense Fund, an advocacy group, who has had a lifelong interest in children's issues.
Pearson said his organization "might argue with some of the numbers" on office visits. For example, he said, young people from 12 through 21 probably have more need of routine care than children from 6 to 12.
But overall the program would represent a vast improvement for many children, including those whose parents have health insurance coverage, because they would have access to care on a preventive basis, children's advocates say.
More than 7 million children in the United States have no access to routine medical care at all, according to a study performed in 1989 by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions.
"Children are the most affected by the lack of universal medical care in this country," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group that focuses on the concerns of children. "But we'll all be better off if they grow up healthy because we're going to need them to run the country and take care of us."
Some lawmakers and child advocacy groups say there is still work to be done on Clinton's plan, however, to make sure that the most vulnerable children - the poor, the disabled, those from dysfunctional families - don't continue to fall through the cracks.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Standard package
The standard benefits package included in the Clinton plan provides for:
- Prenatal care and pregnancy-related services.
- A medically recommended regime of immunizations against infectious diseases.
- Testing for lead paint poisoning for toddlers under age 2 who are deemed at risk.
- Seven well-baby visits from infancy to age 2; two checkups from ages 3 to 5 and five visits from age of 6 to 19.
- Low-cost dental care through age 18, including orthodontics.
- Low-cost routine eye and ear exams and eye glasses for children.
- A prescription drug plan.
- Treatment for mental health problems and substance abuse.