Prescription for children’s health
Dana Wolfe Naimark, president of Children’s Action Alliance, takes questions during a news conference at the Capitol on Feb. 27 about plans to seek health care coverage for uninsured children. A coalition of health care providers and other groups took part.

A coalition of activists and health care providers is calling for more state revenues to expand health care for uninsured children in Arizona and lifting of a “gag rule” they claim prevents families from learning about existing health care options.
“We know that when kids don’t have health care insurance they can’t get the health care they need when they need it,” said Dana Naimark, president and CEO of the Children’s Action Alliance, at the Capitol on Feb. 27. “Their families suffer, their health suffers and their school work suffers. It weakens our future workforce and it is a drain on our economy.”
The group states 250,000 children in Arizona are living without health insurance, and though crediting the 1998 health care program KidsCare with reducing the number of uninsured children from 25 percent to 15 percent, more needs to be done, said Naimark.
That concern was echoed by Robert Myer, president of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Children make 65,000 visits to emergency rooms a year and accounted for 26 percent of ER visits in 2004, he said.
Many of those visits are to treat acute respiratory infections and other problems more effectively addressed by preventive treatments, but families’ lack of coverage leaves “no alternative” to more costly emergency treatment, he said.
Myer also cited U.S. Census Bureau statistics that rank Arizona 12th when it comes to the number of those uninsured. Fifteen percent of children in Arizona do not have health insurance, ranking the state third in the nation, he said.
Naimark also called for the passage of S1440, sponsored by Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8. It would remove a provision that prevents the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System from contracting with school districts and collaborating with community and faith-based organizations to increase awareness of health care options.
Though well-intentioned, the plan for more subsidies may make the numbers of uninsured worse, said Tom Jenney, executive director of the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers.
He said he has yet to see if increased public spending on health care actually increases access to or the quality of service. On the contrary, by creating a sudden spike in demand brought by increased subsidies, health care costs for the insured are bound to rise. This could have the effect of creating even more uninsured, said Jenney.
Other alternatives could include lowering corporate tax rates to increase the likelihood of more people advancing economically and becoming able to afford private health care plans, he said.