NC Child produces publications that document trends in child well-being and the impact of public policy decisions on children and families.
State leaders have a huge opportunity to get affordable health care to hard-working, low-income families. Expanding Medicaid is a cost-effective solution that would bring coverage to more than 100,000 North Carolina parents with children at home.
School nurses are on the front lines of protecting our children’s physical and mental health. They save school districts money by keeping teachers focused on education, and play a key role in ensuring students are well enough to thrive in the classroom.
Parents need choices for child care. Across the state, parents face a shortage of quality child care, which has been made worse by the pandemic. Increasing the subsidy rates to the 2018 statewide average rates can help child care centers stay open, or reopen, to serve more children & families going back to work after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In North Carolina, many low-income women qualify for Medicaid coverage during their pregnancy. Unfortunately, this life-saving coverage ends just 60 days after delivery – when many new parents and babies are at their most vulnerable. We can help prevent maternal and infant deaths by ensuring continuous coverage throughout the first year after a child’s birth. Download this fact sheet to learn more.
The North Carolina Child Health Report Card, published biannually by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and NC Child, tracks key indicators of child health and well-being in four areas:
Healthy Births
Access to Care
Secure Homes & Neighborhoods, and
Health Risk Factors
The report provides data on such health concerns and risk factors as asthma, teen births, infant mortality, poverty, and child deaths.
Ending childhood lead exposure is a proven strategy to protect young children’s long-term health and development. Even low-level exposure to lead can reduce IQ, harming children’s long-term health, success in school, and earning potential over their lifetimes.
As detection improves and we learn more about the harmful effects of lead on the developing brain, it is critical that the NC General Assembly keep the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention statute up to date.
Some children in North Carolina are moved from Medicaid to NC Health Choice at age six, losing access to some of the vital coverage Medicaid provides – especially children with special health care needs. Fully combining the two programs will reduce administrative overhead, and ensure that every child in North Carolina gets the care they need to thrive.
As our state’s families continue to face the devastating impacts of the pandemic, it is important for the NC General Assembly to prioritize investments that help kids survive and thrive - now and in the future.
Medicaid expansion is a powerful tool to bolster North Carolina’s rural health system as the state battles coronavirus and the related economic strain.
This brief will explore the relationship between rural child health and Medicaid, the impacts of COVID-19 on rural health systems, and new opportunities for Medicaid expansion as a response to the pandemic.