Legslative News: Take Action

From our Legislative Chair: Paula Petersen

Please see below...it is very easy and quick and makes a difference...this is the most important bill to partner with Utah AAP...thanks for you immediate attention...keep tuned throughout the session....Paula Peterson

SB164 Access to Health Care Amendments is coming up full Senate vote!  This bill authorizes the Healthy Utah Plan to provide affordable health care options to thousands of Utahns caught in the coverage gap. The next few days are critical to sway the opinion of legislators who are on the fence (and there are still quite a few).  

TAKE ACTION:  Find your SENATOR at http://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp.  Send an email or call (801) 538-1035.  Urge them to VOTE YES on SB164.  Be sure to identify yourself as a voting constituent and pediatrician.

TALKING POINTS:  

44,000 of Utah parents are uninsured.  70% of the uninsured are in families with one or more full-time workers; 80% are American citizens and 60% of the uninsured are below age 34 (in child-bearing age).  The children of these families are at risk.

Each of these Utah families are just one accident (fall on the stairs) away from medical bankruptcy.  Each of these families is just one medical setback of their chronic illness (diabetes or heart disease) from financial ruin, and homelessness.  Thousands of uninsured parents delay treatment for their chronic health conditions due to the costs of medicines and medical visits.  Children of parents who are uninsured are less likely to sign-up for Medicaid or CHIP (even if the children qualify); thus they have less access to prevention and health maintenance services.

Children of parents with untreated chronic medical conditions, or untreated depression, are at a severe risk for child toxic stress. Child toxic stress is a condition similar to wartime post-traumatic stress. There is a high risk that these children will be emotionally neglected by parents who are distracted by their own medical or mental health conditions. This toxic stress can lead to life-long physical brain changes in these children, which are strongly related to later failures in the children's lives such as an increased occurrence of teen pregnancy, school drop-out, and incarceration.

If we don't help these families, we are essentially dooming children to another generation of poverty, ill-health and despair.  Think about the effects upon that innocent child, when you deliberate whether to provide healthcare to working parents!  Vote Yes on SB164!