PA HOSPITALS LOSE NEARLY $400 MILLION CARING FOR UNINSURED KIDS July 1, 2024 – The financial statements for eight out of ten Pennsylvania’s hospitals show that hospitals are bleeding red in part due to a troubling spike in the share of children without health...
MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS DON’T TAKE VACATIONS I’m overwhelmed…I’m worried…I’m afraid…I’m alone. These heartbreaking words are uttered far too often by teenagers and younger children these days and we heard them a lot at a Children First mental health community...
Unburden PA’s Health Care Systems by Insuring Every Child There are more uninsured children in the Commonwealth than the total populations of Harrisburg and Scranton combined. Nearly 145,000 PA children and teens are not covered by any sort of health...
Policymakers, who are charged with being responsive to the expectations of taxpayers and ensuring public funds are both reducing waste and making a difference, must recognize that a rising number of uninsured children are placing an increasing burden on taxpayers....
In March 2024, Children First published a policy brief entitled “Optimizing Medicaid to Improve Child and Youth Mental Health in Pennsylvania.” In that brief, five specific reforms to optimize Medicaid as a sustainable funding source to improve child and adolescent...
Suicide Rates Among U.S. Adolescents Doubled in 10 Years Suicide rates among U.S. adolescents has doubled in 10 years. Half of kids who take their own lives have never had access to any mental health services before making that terminal decision. These two...
