Jocelyn Guyer
Blog Post List
April 28, 2011
A few weeks ago, I went to pick up my three kids from their after-school science class only to find that one of my 8-year-old twins, Leo, had never shown up. I spent 20 panicked minutes frantically searching for him, reviewing in my head what I knew about child abduction rates (they are really, really low, right?) and the Amber Alert system. When he finally emerged from a nearby playground, sweaty and quite pleased with himself for a jump shot that he'd just made, I was flooded by relief and overjoyed to see him. Two minutes later, I was furious. This chain of reactions is similar to what I...
MomsRising
Together
March 24, 2011
As communities across the nation celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, CCF marked the event in its traditional style - by issuing an issue brief. It has the facts about how the Affordable Care Act will affect children, but also stories from families whose children have personally been touched by the new law or stand to benefit from it when the law is fully implemented in 2014. We would like to introduce you to a couple of the moms that we talked to when putting together this new brief: First, we head to Oregon to meet Cynthia Johnson who we met through our friends at...
MomsRising
Together
January 19, 2011
I ‘m feeling a bit like Bill Murray in the movie classic “Groundhog Day” as I brace myself for another round of debate on health reform. (It’s like déjà vu all over again!) As the real Groundhog Day approaches, Congress will likely be in the midst of discussing health reform as they were the last Groundhog Day and the one before that. In fact, this is a topic Congress has been trying to grapple with for about 60 Groundhog Days. Personally, I wouldn’t blame Punxsutawney Phil if he decides to stay in his warm cozy hole this year. But that’s not an option for the rest of us. We need to climb...
MomsRising
Together
September 20, 2010
I had a chance to go to a fantastic event on September 3rd sponsored by Secretary Sebelius on the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge , which aims to reach the nation's 4.7 million uninsured children who already are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP. She made a compelling pitch that nothing is more important to our future than the health of America's children and that is why Medicaid and CHIP were created. Thanks to these programs, tens of millions of Americans have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their child is safe. In recognition that millions of our children are heading back...
MomsRising
Together
September 20, 2010
By Jocelyn Guyer, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families ( http://theccfblog.org/ ) A record number of people are now living in poverty, including one in five children, according to U.S. Census figures ( http://ccf.georgetown.edu/index ) released last week. More than 50 million people reported no health insurance coverage in 2009, which translates into an uninsured rate of 16.7 percent. The Census report underscored the harsh toll the recession has had on America’s children and families. Poverty and lack of health insurance pose huge risks to child health, development and well...
MomsRising
Together
February 4, 2010
In the past year, while private insurance has become less available and more expensive and families faced the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression, the renewed CHIP program and Medicaid have offered a vital lifeline to America's children. Thanks to the strong resolve of national and state leaders, many of our children have been sheltered from this economic storm.
MomsRising
Together
January 26, 2010
One of the toughest things about being a mom is that you can’t always make things right in your kids’ lives, nor in the world. The first time I learned this lesson was when my water broke well before my twin boys were supposed to be born. We couldn’t stop them from coming, and they arrived six weeks early. In retrospect, they were never at serious risk of major complications – our medical system has gotten unbelievably good at helping pre-term babies and six weeks early is considered a modest issue. But, at the time, it was simply awful. One of our sons got out of the NICU after a few days,...
MomsRising
Together
October 28, 2009
So far, the news about kids in health reform has been dominated by a fat baby and an underweight toddler. Earlier this month, we learned about a healthy 4-month old boy, Alex Colorado , who was denied coverage by Rocky Mountain Health Plan for being “overweight.” A week later, we heard about a two-year old Colorado girl, Aislin Bates who was denied coverage because she didn’t weigh enough. With these inexplicable denials of coverage, the health insurance industry inflicted another wound on itself and secured the adorable Alex and Aislin lots of well-deserved national news coverage. But, as...
MomsRising
Together