By Patrick Roberts
MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) – There is good news and bad news for Ouachita Parish when it comes to health insurance for kids.
On the plus side, over 95% of children in the parish are covered by some form of health insurance.
On the negative side, the remaining 5%, or about 1,800 kids, could be covered by Louisiana's Medicaid-funded child health insurance program, known as La-CHIP, but aren't.
Considering how many total kids are eligible, it means about 30% of eligible children aren't getting coverage when they could be.
"You're looking at a significant number of children who are uninsured in this parish, so it's definitely a problem," said Lindsey Murry of the Children's Coalition.
Why parents aren't enrolling is unclear.
"We don't know. (Some) are just not knowledgeable about the program, they can't navigate the application process, they may not have access to a computer to apply online, or may not have transportation to an application office or a Medicaid office," Murry said.
But the lack of coverage has very real consequences for both kids and parents.
"A child without health insurance can't thrive on many levels," Murry continued.
"They're not going to perform as well at school. They're going to be sick during school. That mother is also losing her time at work."
Children who aren't covered are less likely to get regular check-ups, meaning certain conditions can go undiagnosed – like mental health disorders, for example.
That often results in high-risk behavior. Nationally, 70% of kids in juvenile custody have a mental health problem.
Children with these issues are also at higher risk to end up in foster homes, under psychiatric care, or in addiction recovery programs.
"Not only are those options expensive for our state, but they really don't have the best outcomes for the child," said the Coalition's Denna McGrew.
In most cases, the best outcome involves keeping children with their families, so a new program called Coordinated System of Care is focusing on helping children and families deal with those disorders.
"We want to meet their mental health needs so that they are able to function in school and not have these behaviors that put them at risk for contact with the criminal justice system."
The Children's Coalition, along with a group called Wraparound Services of Northeast Louisiana, will get their first 40 cases on March 1. The program will be rolled out to the rest of the state after a year.
And as the coalition takes on this new program, it's also still trying to get more children enrolled in Medicaid.
Whether mental or physical, that could improve a lot of kids' well being.
