WIC is defined as the *safety net* for pregnant moms and newborns. I see
the parallels between WIC income levels and SCHIP income definitions. SCHIP
is the child health care *safety net* as more and more companies do not
offer employer paid family health insurance any longer--just insuring the
worker. Or if they do offer family member insurance it is way too high in
cost to afford in additional premiums and co-pays paid by the worker.
[Additionally, there are the self-employed, self-insured. You don't want to
know what it costs us!]
If the Federal government still wants their Healthy People 2010 guidelines
to be met, such as higher breastfeeding initiation to 75% and 6 months to 1
year sustaining of breastfeeding rates, there has to be some help in some
sectors, such as health insurance, for families to be able to afford doing
so. If so many companies are dropping the ball insurance-wise, who else but
government can pick it up? Remember, many have already dropped pension
contributions.
Otherwise, these lofty 2010 goals will never be met and in fact the
breastfeeding rates will continue to fall, as they have already begun to do.
As women have additional children, it becomes more important to get back
into the workplace or stay in it just for the health benefits. They have to
balance their work with breastfeeding. What I am hearing from working moms
is that the length of breastfeeding time is becoming shorter with subsequent
children--not longer. They cannot afford to be off work and lose both
income and benefits. And a medical crisis can cause families to lose their
homes. Judy
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/21509.html
The number of uninsured children age 18 and younger grew by 710,000 to a
total of 9.4 million in 2006, according to new research by the Urban
Institute. Seventy percent of these newly uninsured children came from
families earning more than twice the federal poverty level - that's $41,300
for a family of four.
More than 3 million of these uninsured youngsters would get full health
insurance under legislation Congress passed to renew and expand the State
Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. About
6.6 million children are now covered under the program.
How poverty levels got to be defined
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/09
/IN90985.DTL
By today's definition, families fall through the cracks because they are
*not poor enough.*
Current Federal poverty definitions
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/07poverty.shtml
Family of 4: $20,650 Alaska $25,820 Hawaii $23,750
Income eligibility for WIC 2006-07
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/howtoapply/incomeguidelines06-07.htm
Family of 4: $37,000 Alaska $46,250 Hawaii $42,550
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