Kids often receive poor health care despite good insurance coverage

Almost reminds me of the old "grading on the curve" that was done in schools years ago...BD 

Children only get about half the recommended treatment for common medical problems such as asthma and obesity, potentially leading them toward an unhealthy adulthood, researchers have found in the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. The problems with poor-quality health care for children holds true even when they have good health insurance, according to the study to be published Thursday in New England Journal of Medicine.

"The quality indicators are just so awful that even if they're off by a considerable extent, they still hold up," Wise said. "The findings suggest that the quality of health care for children is pretty pathetic."

"Children are cheap," Wise said. "If you add up all the health care that children get, it's basically a rounding error for Medicare."

Pediatric care is poorly reimbursed by the government and private insurers, giving doctors an incentive to shorten visits with their young patients. Some insurers also won't cover some vaccines, routine physicals or certain preventive medications for children, requiring more costly care down the line, said Dr. Lydia Tinajero-Deck, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Oakland, who co-directs a childhood obesity clinic. It may be good medical practice to weigh children frequently and give them nutritional counseling to help prevent obesity, but insurers don't necessarily cover it and parent's don't want to pay the full cost, she said.

San Jose Mercury News - Report: Kids often receive poor health care despite good insurance coverage