
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997                TAG: 9703140619

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  150 lines

``KARING'' HELPS YOUTHS WITH NO MEDICAL INSURANCE HEALTH-CARE PROGRAM IS A TENUOUS LIFELINE.

Leslie Beckett, like most parents, dreads her sons' constant ear infections. Not just because of the fever and sleepless nights, but because of the medical bills - sometimes more than $150 - it costs her each time.

Beckett, who works as a nurse's aide in Norfolk, can't afford health insurance for her two sons and she doesn't qualify for Medicaid. Her boys, ages 6 and 8, are two of the more than 57,000 children in Hampton Roads without health insurance.

They make up just a small portion of the nation's nearly 10 million uninsured children, according to Census Bureau figures released Thursday.

According to the report, nearly 14 percent of the nation's children lacked any health insurance whatsoever, while 23 percent were covered by state Medicaid programs. Another 66 percent of children under the age of 18 were covered by private insurance through their parents' job benefits.

(The percentage adds up to more than 100 percent because some children could have received Medicaid for part of the year and been under private insurance for the remainder.)

That is a conservative estimate, say children's health advocates. They estimate nearly twice as many children are either uninsured, underinsured or at risk of losing their health insurance at any time.

``Those children are at risk at every level,'' said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the New York-based Children's Health Fund, which supports healthcare programs for children in underserved areas of the nation.

Studies show that uninsured children are twice as likely to go without care for ear infections, sore throats, asthma and injuries. Their mothers usually don't have good prenatal care. The children are more likely to grow up with hearing loss from untreated ear infections and other permanent disabilities.

``We're setting a time bomb among children who don't have predictable and dependable access to health care,'' Redlener said.

The numbers of uninsured children are expected to increase under welfare reform.

Living without health insurance for your children is ``very, very stressful for families,'' said Norfolk Health Department nurse manager Joyce Bollard.

Bollard is a nurse with a recently revived program that provides free primary health care to children in Norfolk and Chesapeake. Called the Karing Program, it is funded by Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Sentara Health System, DePaul Medical Center and Chesapeake General Hospital.

It is the offshoot of a statewide program Trigon sponsored several years ago. When the program ended a year ago, nearly 800 uninsured Norfolk children received health care through it.

Trigon cancelled the program because it didn't have enough support in other areas of the state, said Trigon spokeswoman Brooke Taylor. But the Norfolk program, which had strong community partners, had always worked well, she said. In January, Trigon gave The Planning Council an administrative grant to start it again.

Since January, nearly 150 children have joined the program, said Heather Martin, a community planner with The Planning Council. They receive free care in several Norfolk clinics and through the Chesapeake Care Clinic, formerly the Chesapeake Free Clinic, she said.

``The philosophy is simple. Provide primary and preventive health care for children in that (uninsured) gap to enrich their lives, and in the long run, to save health care dollars,'' she said.

But the money will only last another 18 months to 2 years, she said. Supporters didn't even publicize the program's start-up, relying instead on word of mouth so they wouldn't be overwhelmed with requests.

``We don't know how long we'll be able to continue the program,'' she said. ``We're cautiously spending our dollars.''

Beckett's two sons get their health care through Karing, and she dreads the day the money runs out.

``I don't know what I'll do. Maybe get a second job, which is what most people are doing now,'' she said. ``That's scary. Not having any insurance for the children. That's really scary.''

And it's wrong, says state Del. David Brickley, D-Prince William County. ``If there ever was a case where an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure, it's in children's health care.''

Brickley sponsored a bill in this year's General Assembly session to provide health insurance to children. The bill, which passed with unanimous support, would provide insurance to children whose family income is twice the federal poverty level or less - about $31,000 for a family of four. The governor is expected to sign it.

The program uses $7.6 million in new revenues created by ending a tax break for large health insurers, coupled with matching federal funds. That $15 million in funding each year could pay for primary care coverage for all uninsured 4-year-olds meeting the financial criteria throughout Virginia.

Fourteen states already have similar programs for children.

Brickley says his program, called the Virginia Children's Medical Security Insurance Plan, would dovetail nicely with any federal legislation Congress passes.

Thursday, senators Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, proposed a bipartison bill that would fund a $20 billion health insurance plan for children by increasing the federal cigarette tax. States would receive federal grants to contract with private health insurers for child-only coverage.

President Clinton's budget proposal provides $3.8 billion over the next five years for states to cover health insurance premiums for families who earn too much for Medicaid but too little for private coverage. Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., introduced a bill that would provide tax credits of up to 90 percent of the private health insurance premiums for ``working-poor'' families.

Even if federal legislation never passes, Brickley said, his goal is to continue to raise the age of children covered by the state's plan until every child in Virginia has health insurance.

``It's just darn good policy for the health care of our children.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Leslie Beckett has no health insurance for her sons, Corie, 6, left,

and Alphonso, 8. For now, they get free service through health-care

agencies in Norfolk and Chesapeake.

Graphics

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN UNDER 18 WHO DO NOT HAVE ANY MEDICAL

INSURANCE.

SOURCE: 1992 Hampton Roads Planning Council estimate

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

BACKGROUND

Who are the nation's uninsured children?