Annual review of public health
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Annu Rev Public Health · Jan 1999
ReviewThe key to the door: Medicaid's role in improving health care for women and children.
Medicaid is the nation's major public financing program for providing health insurance coverage and long-term care services to the poor. This article assesses Medicaid's contributions over the last three decades to improving the coverage, access to care, and health of low-income children and women. ⋯ Medicaid has shown over the last three decades that it is an important lever to help open the door to better health care, and ultimately to improved health for America's poor women and children, by substantially expanding coverage of the low-income population and helping to reduce differentials in access to care between the poor and the privately insured. Gaps in coverage and limitations in access persist, but overall the program has resulted in better coverage, access, and health care for millions of poor children and their parents.
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This paper begins with a review of the problem of teen pregnancy in the United States. Domestic trends are compared with those of other developed countries. Antecedents of the problem are discussed. ⋯ An analysis of the different ways in which the problem can be framed and the implications for solutions of the problem follow. Examples of promising teen pregnancy and STD/HIV/AIDS prevention programs are provided. The paper ends with a recommendation for an eclectic approach to framing the problem and possible solutions.