Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in Arizona, also referred to as KidsCare, works to bring children's health coverage, although its success is at risk. There are no enough funds available to cushion states to provide healthcare coverage to children. However, through the affordable care act, the federal government is working to ensure that it covers every child. The services target children under age 19, and this is likely to impact approximately eight million children and families (InsureKidsNow.gov, n.d). In this paper, the focus is to sketch and discuss in detail the services provided by KidsCare, explain the services that are lacking, and demonstrate how community members can be made aware of these services.
Through Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Arizona Department of Health Services ensures that children in middle-income families receive comprehensive coverage. The state provides routine checkups and child doctor visits, immunizations, prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient care, and dental and vision care (InsureKidsNow.gov, n.d). With routine Checkups, the program provides no-cost health insurance coverage for eligible children. Routine checkup services and child doctor visits are provided to keep the children healthy. At the same time, every year, children born in Arizona must be immunized. The program targets children from the age of 4-11, and this is done to prevent diseases such as Hepatitis B, Poliomyelitis, measles, chickenpox, tetanus, and diphtheria (Burak, n.d). Also, prescriptions are done at every entry in that children receive a birth dose and then a combination of vaccines at different intervals depending on the requirements. The program also allows dental and vision care services for eligible children.
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Some of the lacking services include special health needs services such as lab tests and x-rays, emergency services, and inpatient and outpatient care. As highlighted by Artiga and Ubri (2017), CHIP plays a big role in the coverage of low-income children and those with special needs. For this reason, the program should offer access to services to eligible families to enhance care quality. When children have health insurance, they are likely to be attended to when they get sick (Artiga & Ubri, 2017). Access to these services will enable many families to pick a doctor of their own and participate in regular checkups throughout the critical stages of their lives and overall development. Providing these services for free will also aid newborns and pregnant women to get assistance, particularly receiving treatments for illnesses such as ear infections, asthma to mention the least. Lab tests, x-rays, and emergency services need to be free or at a low cost; therefore, the program should pay for care after delivery to ensure that all children can get health coverage.
Community members are made aware of these services by representatives and counselors who help them learn about their children's eligibility for the program and the type of benefits they will receive. The representatives and counselors set up local advertisements to convince community members to participate as healthy volunteers, which changes most community members' views afterward (Burak, n.d). People get to learn more about the program's positive effects, making it a critical enhancing health factor valuable in the community as the state as a whole. Community members are made to understand that CHIP is a free and relatively inclusive insurance option offered to target moderate-income families and households living in poverty. Also, working parents who lack health insurance from their job can apply for the program to ensure that all children are given care.
In a nutshell, Arizona's CHIP experience depicts that the program has fundamentally changed the state's historic gains for many families rely on the affordable marketplace coverage to meet their needs. Services such as routine checkups and child doctor visits, immunizations, prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient care, and dental and vision care have kept many children healthy.
References
Burak, E. (n.d) Children's Health Coverage in Arizona: A Cautionary Tale for the Future of the. https://ccf.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Childrens-Coverage-in-Arizona-A-Cautionary-Tale-for-the-Future-of-Childrens-Health-Insurance-Program.pdf
InsureKidsNow.gov. (n.d). Children's Health Coverage Programs in Arizona. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services . https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/coverage/az/index.html
Artiga, S., & Ubri, P. (2017). Key issues in children's health coverage. Children , 20 , 22. https://www.issuelab.org/resources/26788/26788.pdf
