Tens of Thousands of ID Kids' Health Coverage in Peril – Public News Service

A change to Medicaid enrollment in the coming months could put health coverage for millions of children across the U.S., and thousands in Idaho, at risk.

When the federal government officially ends the COVID-19 public health emergency, it will also end the requirement for states to provide continuous Medicaid coverage.

Hillarie Hagen, health policy associate at Idaho Voices for Children, talked about what it will mean in the Gem State.

“Families will need to complete renewal paperwork for their children to remain on Medicaid,” Hagen explained. “And if the state’s renewal process is unable to handle the influx of renewals, or if parents can’t be reached to complete paperwork within a short timeline, tens of thousands of Idaho kids are at risk of losing their health coverage.”

More Idaho children got health coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program during the pandemic. According to a Georgetown University report, an additional 24,000 kids in the state gained coverage through the programs between February 2020 and June 2021. It said most received coverage through Medicaid.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and Research, predicted the loss of extra federal funds to secure continuous Medicaid coverage will create enormous pressure on states and there will likely be a record number of procedural denials.

“For all of these reasons, we estimate today that 6.7 million children are at extremely high risk of becoming uninsured during this process,” Alker reported. “As big as this number is, we actually believe this is a conservative estimate.”

Hagen noted there are a few ways Idaho can prepare for the change, which is expected to happen in July.

“Idaho officials can extend timelines for Medicaid renewals and allow families more time to respond to alerts and submit needed paperwork,” Hagen suggested. “The state can also invest in robust outreach and strong consumer support in preparation.”

Hagen added the state also could routinely track and release renewal data so it can intervene quickly if children begin to lose coverage at high rates.

Disclosure: The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families contributes to our fund for reporting on Children’s Issues, and Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.

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Texas Rangers investigating reports of child sex trafficking at a shelter in Bastrop reported they did not find enough evidence to support the charges.

The Refuge, a nonprofit shelter, was created to help girls, ages 11 to 17, who had been victims of sex trafficking. But after allegations some shelter employees could be trafficking the girls, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation last week.

Missy Davidson, forensic interviewer and counselor for the Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center, explained such crimes are often well hidden, in part because the children involved do not self-identify as victims.

“Generally, we consider these type of victims as what we call ‘compliant’ victims,” Davidson noted. “They’re not going to tell what’s happening. Either they’re too scared or they’re too caught up in it, and it’s become their way of life. So, sometimes they don’t even recognize it as something bad. It’s how they are making money, it’s how they are living.”

According to Davidson, young people who have been trafficked are sometimes viewed with suspicion in the legal system, as they may have had drug problems or troubled home lives leading to other brushes with the law. The Texas Rangers found some evidence of nude photos being taken, but the employee involved was fired. Shelter managers said they are “deeply relieved” about the findings.

However, in Texas alone, an estimated 79,000 young people are sex-trafficking victims, a problem costing the state $6.5 billion dollars a year, caring for survivors.

Davidson pointed out officials are well aware of the trend, and acknowledged problems include building trust with teens to come forward, and helping them kick their drug addiction.

“They’ve learned very quickly, we don’t trust law enforcement, we don’t trust maybe Child Protective Services, and you know, our investigators,” Davidson outlined. “They don’t trust that kind of system.”

She added many times, a young person faces threats of harm or even death by their pimp or traffickers if they report what is happening.

Davidson explained when taken off the street, the young person begins a multisession interview and therapy, and they are intentionally placed far from where the abuse happened. She emphasized when first rescued, they often have no money or identification, and look malnourished.

“And confused, disoriented,” Davidson observed. “They may not have eye contact, are fearful of authority. Sometimes they may have luggage with them.”

If you believe you are a victim of sex trafficking or know someone who is and needs immediate help, you can call 888-373-7888, and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center will find local assistance.

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The Virginia General Assembly has given bipartisan approval to a measure one advocate believes could lead to significant changes to the Commonwealth’s youth justice system.

The bill outlined how management of the state’s juvenile justice system could transition from the Public Safety Secretary to the Health Secretary.

Valerie Slater, executive director of the group RISE for Youth, said it could mark an important step away from Virginia’s current punitive approach to youth justice. She pointed out many kids in the system have mental health conditions not addressed by the current model.

“And we are still treating them as if there is a public safety threat,” Slater asserted. “When in actuality, we need to begin to address the traumas and begin to heal children.”

The bill would establish a work group to research the feasibility and benefits of the transition. If Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs the measure, the group would then issue a final report by November on what the process could look like.

Slater argued Virginia’s current juvenile justice model was built for a pre-pandemic world. She noted children have undergone new stressors in recent years, and the Commonwealth’s current system fails to account for it.

“The pandemic, of course, it mandated and necessitated that we take certain steps,” Slater acknowledged. “But we’ve forgotten that those steps are going to have very real ramifications on our youngest citizens: our children. “

A nonpartisan audit commission report found the number of kids in Virginia’s juvenile justice system dropped from more than 9,500 in 2011 to about 3,000 last year, largely due to diversion programs, but Black children were referred into the court system at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts.

Nationally, a new report from The Sentencing Project revealed U.S. children were locked up in juvenile facilities nearly 250,000 times in 2019, and Black and Latinx kids were 50% more likely to face incarceration.

Josh Rovner, senior advocacy associate for The Sentencing Project and the report’s author, said detaining kids can have lasting impacts.

“For one, there’s self-harm. Children are at a much higher risk of suicide having been detained,” Rovner explained. “Not surprisingly, kids who are detained are much less likely to graduate from high school.”

The report noted the total number of kids in detention dropped between 2010 and 2019, when arrests of children also dropped by nearly 60%.

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The last two years have been devastating for children during the pandemic, dealing with isolation along with losing loved ones. A conference held in Baltimore this week focused on bringing conversations around child bereavement closer to the communities it impacts.

The National Alliance for Children’s Grief hosted its Baltimore regional conference at Roberta’s House, a family grief support center.

Dr. Micki Burns, a licensed psychologist who focuses on childhood bereavement and chief clinical officer at Judi’s House, another support center, said there has been a large increase in overdose deaths and homicides from gun violence since 2020, on top of people losing family to COVID-19.

“These types of death losses are really concentrated in some of these urban areas or areas that have more families of color who are having to contend with the ongoing systemic racism, all of those other obstacles that our society has created for them,” Burns outlined.

One in 12 children in Maryland will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18, according to the Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model.

Dr. Tashel Bordere, human development and family science professor at the University of Missouri, who attended the conference, said funding to support services and training for people working with bereaved children is critical.

“Services that don’t just focus on the individual needs of children but involve the family, that involve the teachers,” Bordere suggested. “So that children are able to experience continuity of care, and they’re hearing similar language within their educational settings and within their homes.”

Next month, Roberta’s House will also host Camp Erin Baltimore, a grief camp for children ages six through 17 who have lost a loved one. The two-day camp during spring break includes counseling, education and emotional support, along with camp activities such as games, and arts and crafts.

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