Report: State efforts to keep children healthy decline

? For the third straight year, Kansas’ efforts to keep children healthy have lagged rather than improved, according to an advocacy group’s grade card released Tuesday.

“Kansas’ grade for health went from an A-minus two years ago to a B last year. This year, it got a C-plus,” said Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children.

Brunk cited slight but troublesome declines in the percentage of pregnant women visiting a doctor during the first trimester of their pregnancies (86.8 percent in 2001, 86.1 percent in 2000), and in the percentage of children fully immunized by age 2 (80.1 percent in 2001-02, 79.3 percent in 2002-03).

“At a time when these percentages ought to be increasing, Kansas is either holding steady or going down,” Brunk said during a meeting with reporters in Topeka.

The number of low birth-weight babies — those weighing less than 5 1/2 pounds — remained unchanged; 7 percent in both 2001 and 2002. The number of children dying before their first birthday declined 0.1 percent.

The briefing was part of the Kansas Action for Children campaign aimed at calling the public’s attention to the needs of Kansas children.

Kansas’ other grades:

  • Safety and Security — B
  • Education — A
  • Teen Years — C
  • Child Care — B
  • The state’s overall grade was a B.

“Given the difficult economic climate that we’re in, this is good news,” Brunk said. “But it’s clear that health care is a primary concern.”

He attributed most of the shortfall to ever-increasing costs of health care and persistent decline in the number of families with health insurance.

“We have almost 60,000 children in Kansas without health insurance,” Brunk said.

He challenged officials to encourage low-income families to sign up for HealthWave, the state-run health insurance program for children whose parents aren’t poor enough for welfare but can’t get insurance.

“We need to get as many kids signed up for HealthWave as possible,” Brunk said.

State reports show that while at least 60,000 children are eligible for HealthWave, only 31,100 are signed up.

Brunk said struggling families simply didn’t know they were eligible for HealthWave.

Asked if any health-care reforms will be proposed during the 2004 legislative session, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ top adviser on health care issues, Bob Day, replied, “A number of initiatives are being looked at, at this point.”

He declined to elaborate.

Brunk said Kansas Action for Children planned to lobby lawmakers to require all 14- to 18-year-olds to wear seat belts in both the front and back seats.

“About 80 kids died in Kansas car accidents last year,” he said. “Something like this could reduce those numbers significantly.”