Children’s Health Care

We believe that everyone should have access to affordable, quality health care—including mental health care. (It’s outcome # 2 on our Children’s Charter.) Unfortunately, health care in this country is neither universal nor affordable, and New Mexico has one of the highest rates of residents—including children—without insurance in the nation. That is one of the reasons we have long advocated for full funding of Medicaid for children. Medicaid is jointly funded by the state and the federal government and covers mostly children from low-income families, low-income elderly, and people with disabilities. Another federally funded program—the Children’s Health Insurance Program or CHIP—covers kids from families who do not qualify for Medicaid and do not have or cannot afford private insurance.

Not only is covering children the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Besides visits for the flu and the occasional injury, most children only require well-child checkups and assessments for developmental delays. When developmental issues are not caught early they are not only more expensive to address, they also may interfere with a child’s education.

For more information on children’s health and safety issues, browse our publications.

Our Initiatives

Roadmaps to Health is a collaborative project using data to highlight health disparities, unmet needs, and gaps in services for children so that communities can advocate for their specific needs with policy-makers. The end goal is to secure an adequate, stable source of funding for a continuum of high-quality early childhood health, care, and education services.

Children in Focus is our work on the congressional level to increase the federal budget for programs that promote child well-being such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Child Nutrition Act, both of which were recently reauthorized. This initiative also includes advocacy work on immigration policies that impact children of immigrants.

Other Resources

Children’s Health Insurance Timeline looks at where we are, as a nation, with regard to children’s health coverage. This interactive time line from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation presents enrollment and major policy developments in health insurance coverage for children in public programs during the last 40+ years. The timeline is updated as major developments occur. (Click on the image below to link to the timeline.)

Funding Sources

Our work on children’s health care is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Our Children in Focus work is funded by First Focus, Voices for America’s Children, and the Brindle Foundation.
Roadmaps to Health is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Contacts

Policy Director Bill Jordan, 505-244-9505, ext. 11
Deputy Policy Director Nick Estes, 505-244-9505, ext. 12