Boustany’s Bill aims to make Children’s Health Insurance more Effective!

H.R. 6506, Improving Children’s Doctor Access Act of 2008 was introduced by U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., (MD, and R-Southwest Louisiana) in a bid to promote states to report and measure the problems low-income group children in S-CHIP face while trying to access medical care from doctors. This move is also meant to ensure that these underprivileged children are given top-priority in the states’ enrollment efforts.

 Boustany said that he felt proud to support S-CHIP and Louisiana’s LaCHIP. He said that by ensuring easy access to doctors for children, we could reduce health care costs and also shorten the waiting lines in emergency rooms in hospitals all across Southwest Louisiana. He added that the success of the program is the surest way to ensure that the taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly. At least 68000 children from the low-income group Louisiana remained eligible but were not listed in LaCHIP. 

It is the Congress’ duty to ensure that needy children are given appropriate care under SCHIP coverage. It is an insult to low-income families if they do not receive timely care while the plastic government coverage card proves useless. Studies have shown that children with SCHIP or Medicaid receive far fewer doctor visits and check-ups than those with private health coverage. Data from the National Committee for Quality Assurance reveals that parents with chronically ill children in Medicaid complained of facing problems in trying to get needed care quickly. 

 Boustany’s Bill hopes to improve the present state of affairs.