By Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO
I was one of more than 10,000 physicians who attended the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in Orlando last weekend, where we spent a significant amount of time discussing topics like gun violence, immigration policies and access to health care. These are all advocacy issues that directly impact the children we care for every day at Children’s Minnesota. While these are topics we discuss at length within the halls and walls of Children’s, it’s clear these topics define the health care landscape beyond our state and all across the country.
Gun violence
A recent study showed that 8,000 children end up in emergency rooms each year due to firearms. Furthermore, nine percent of all deaths in children 10-14 years old are due to firearms. That number increases to 21% of all deaths in children age 15-19. Guns are truly a public health issue. After the horrific shooting at Parkland High School in February 2018, the AAP led a coalition of 83 medical and public health groups urging Congress to take bipartisan action to prevent gun violence. Looking forward, the AAP’s top priorities in federal gun violence prevention advocacy include stronger gun laws, access to mental health resources and research. We must continue to use our voices to advance gun violence prevention policies.Medicaid and access to affordable care
In the summer of 2017, the progress that had been made to ensure children and families had access to health care coverage under Medicaid and the ACA was severely threatened. In Minnesota, over 600,000 children rely on the state’s Medicaid program, called Medical Assistance (MA), for their health care coverage; that’s roughly half of all people receiving the benefit in the state. Yet children are not the cost drivers. In fact, despite making up almost half of the enrollees, they account for only about 20 percent of the costs. They shouldn’t bear the bulk of any cuts in Medicaid spending. AAP pediatricians advocated in record numbers to keep kids protected and as a result, multiple efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act were prevented. The AAP also worked extensively to ensure that funding was extended for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through 2027. Additional proposals and increases in federal child health spending, such as the following, were made possible through support by the AAP:- A $3 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health for child research
- A $60 million increase for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Plans of Safe Care programming
- First time funding for Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Grants ($10 million) and Screening and Treatment for Maternal Depression Grants ($5 million)