Healthcare for uninsured children Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay

Uninsured Children
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Uninsured Children
The continually increasing numbers of children without health insurance in North America have been shocking. Even after the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the number of uninsured children kept increasing. Unlike adults, children are more susceptible to the health consequences associated with lack of insurance cover. In situations where timely diagnosis and treatment are required, uninsured children are always disadvantaged. The consequences of failing to provide health cover to children include facing difficulty in accessing healthcare, receiving low-quality services as well as failing as victims of equity implications.
Since the US healthcare has been operating a market-based coverage system, a gap has been created in health, which has led to underuse and ineffective usage of health services. Parents with uninsured children are mainly low-income earners who are unable to purchase expensive insurance policies (Davis, 2017). The lack of finances is thus a key reason behind the high number of uninsured children. For this reason, children without health coverage do not fare better in the access to medical attention compared to their insured counterparts. Uninsured children are less likely to complete immunizations, less likely to see caregivers in a year, and less likely to have their growth monitored (Davis, 2017). Also, when the uninsured need emergency care, they only have the hospital and clinic options. Parents are hindered by the high costs involved as uninsured children are charged full price, and they do not enjoy discounts that are typically attached to children under plans (Davis, 2017). The problems are even worse to children with recurring illnesses as their parents are already overwhelmed with debts to afford another medical expense.
Another problem is that uninsured children are often placed on low-quality care and ineffective care from the providers. This is the norm that has been going on because the uninsured are less likely to complain about inadequate medical care, especially when they negotiate costs. Children with chronic illnesses tend to suffer more because their conditions are not correctly handled (Weinick, Weigers, & Cohen, 2015). The poor quality of care has also been witnessed in patients' emergency rooms, which are twice more massive than facilities hosting children with healthcare coverage. A crowded facility would be chaotic and unpleasan...