Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla., Kim Doleatto column

Herald-Tribune, The (Sarasota, FL)

April 01--Being ready for kindergarten doesn't end at bedtime stories and knowing how to count to ten. Access to health care helps children thrive once they reach school.

"More and more we're finding a link between access to health care coverage and school readiness," said Elisabeth Burak, Senior Fellow at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy's Center for Children and Families (CCF).

For low-income families with children who often start off behind their peers due to lack of access to quality child care, book-rich environments and more, safety net programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), help level the playing field. In Florida, families of four who earn less than $24,600 qualify for Medicaid. If that family earns up to $48,600, they may qualify for CHIP. Together, both programs cover 41 percent of Florida kids and 39 percent of the nation's children.

"Children who have access to Medicaid are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college and pay back into the community," Burak said.

Programs like these ensure access to pediatric milestone visits and treatment, which can be critical to school success.

For all children, growth happens fastest in the first few years of life and medical screenings can reveal hearing and vision problems that, left unchecked, can lead to delays in speech and other problems. CCF research revealed that children with the recommended number of pediatric visits in their first two years of life were more likely to be ready for school and found links to increased reading scores in 4th grade.

Having health coverage also impacts student absence.

"When kids are sick, they can't go to school," Burak said, and a child who misses just two days a month is considered chronically absent. Chronic absence is a cause of low achievement and a predictor of which students graduate from high school.

Although the uninsured rate is at a historic low, the recent uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and CHIP has caused confusion and had a "chilling effect on family enrollment," Burak said.

Some schools across the nation are rolling health care into their mission. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are fully staffed clinics located in or on school property and offer a range of services, including primary care, mental health and social services. Nonprofits and campaigns that fund early learning and development also help keep low-income families covered and get the treatment they need to be successful students and employed adults.

"We know there is evidence that Medicaid is linked to better health, education, and economic outcomes for children, yet there's still an appetite for drastically cutting the program's funding, reflected in the President's proposed budget," said Burak. "With all of the uncertainty around the future of health coverage this past year-- made worse by Congress's delayed extension of CHIP funding-- we will be looking to see how the national debate is reflected in coverage trends, since the latest data on uninsured kids is from 2016."

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