Georgia can do more to protect health coverage for its youngest residents

"If children are well, then the village is well." This adage beautifully expresses a vital public health concept: A community's health is best measured by how it protects and nurtures the welfare of its most vulnerable members.

As an OB-GYN, I celebrate some of life's happiest moments with families: a healthy pregnancy, a safe delivery, and a newborn's first days. But increasingly, I also see families struggling to get the care their children need simply because they don't have health insurance. I have made numerous calls on behalf of postpartum moms to help restore their coverage and the coverage of their newborn children. For each mom I can help, there is probably another who doesn't have the extra vitality or extended village to help her advocate for herself and her baby.

Access to health coverage, especially for families with young children, can be transformative. It's the well-child visit that catches a developmental delay early. It's the neonatal nutrition consult that helps support breastfeeding and lactation. It's the hearing test that identifies a problem before it affects learning. It's the sick visit when the third cold of the month turns into an ear infection. During the first years of life, when children's brains and bodies are developing at an extraordinary pace, expedited access to care matters even more. What's more, a baby's health impacts the mental health and overall well-being of their mother.

That is why a new report from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families is so concerning. The report found that nearly 220,000 additional children under age six became uninsured between 2022 and 2024, with young children experiencing the largest increase in uninsurance nationwide.

In Georgia, the rate of uninsured young children rose from 5.1% to 6.6%, higher than the national average and higher than our neighbors in Alabama (4.1%). Even more concerning, Texas, Florida and Georgia alone accounted for more than half of the national increase.

Some of this increase is likely related to Medicaid unwinding, when states resumed eligibility reviews after pandemic-era protections ended. But many families lose coverage for reasons unrelated to eligibility.

I can attest that moms put their babies first, but parents of young children are also busy. They are juggling jobs, childcare schedules, doctor's appointments and the everyday challenges of raising a family. When enrollment forms are confusing or renewal notices are missed, children can lose coverage even though they still qualify. In fact, more than half of uninsured children are likely eligible for Medicaid or PeachCare but are simply not enrolled.

We can make it easier for young children to access health care and use services and benefits.

To do so, Georgia could:

* Publish enrollment data by age and geography to better understand where young children are losing coverage.

* Partner with trusted messengers, such as pediatricians, obstetricians, family physicians, perinatal providers (midwives, doulas and lactation consultants), childcare providers, Head Start programs, home visiting programs, community health workers, Babies Can't Wait providers, and other faith and civic organizations to help families enroll and stay enrolled.

* Promote presumptive Medicaid eligibility for our kids and authorize more community organizations to help families enroll. This would make it easier for eligible children to get coverage quickly.

Most importantly, we should do everything possible to ensure continuous coverage for pregnant women, newborns and young children so that the bureaucratic infrastructure does not become a barrier to care. Our patients could benefit from a paradigm shift: Instead of waiting for our families to come to us, we need to expand the "ways and means" we can meet them where they are.

No parent should hesitate to make a doctor's appointment or leave a doctor's office wondering how they will pay for their child's care. And no child should miss the opportunity for a healthy start because of an administrative hurdle. Our youngest children only have one childhood. We owe it to them and their families to do everything in our power and sphere of influence to ensure that they have access to the care they need from the very beginning.

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Courtesy of Georgia Recorder