Kids Count Report: Births to Teens Down, Unwed Births Up in State  

Kids Count in Michigan released a report this week showing that while fewer teens in Michigan are having babies, the percent of babies born to unmarried women in the state has risen dramatically, putting their children at a higher risk of poverty.

Right Start in Michigan and Its Counties - 2011 looks at Michigan births from 2000 to 2009 and ranks counties based on six key measures of health. Houghton County in the Upper Peninsula had the lowest health risk for babies while Alcona County in the northeast Lower Peninsula had the highest risk.

"These are important trends to track as we seek to revitalize our economy,'' Jane Zehnder-Merrell, Kids Count in Michigan project director at the Michigan League for Human Services, said in a released statement. "One troubling area that could impact our future workforce is the large jump - 20 percent -- in births to unmarried women. Women who are not married at birth of their child are likely to remain single and their children are much more likely to live in poverty.''

About 40 percent of all births in Michigan in 2009 were to unmarried women (up from 34 percent in 2000). Most startling, is that two out of every three births to women in their early 20s were to single mothers.

"Moms who were single at the time of birth are much less likely to receive child support than married women and more likely to struggle financially,'' Zehnder-Merrell said.

About half of all births were to mothers eligible for Medicaid, the state and federal health insurance program for low-income people. Pregnant women in households earning less than 185 percent of poverty (about $27,000 or less a year for a single woman) without health insurance are eligible.

Michigan does better than the nation in having a lower percentage of mothers without a high school education (only 17 percent did not have a diploma or GED) and mothers who received late or no prenatal care. It fares poorly, however, in comparison to other states on two key measures: babies born too small or too soon, ranking 36th and 31st among the states.

Three of five indicators where a trend could be calculated over the decade showed improvement while the other two declined. In addition to the nonmarital birth trend, they are:

• a 13 percent drop in teen moms who have a second baby
• declines in births to teens and preterm births
• babies born weighing less than 5.5 pounds rose slightly

A bright spot in the report was improvement in three of five measures for African American mothers and babies, though large disparities still persist. Research has shown early disparities affect early development, school readiness, academic achievement and lifelong potential.

Among policy implications in the report is the need for:

• more robust family support services
• better access to women's health care services
• expanded family planning
• stronger access to Medicaid services through improved provider rates
• a state focus on improving maternal and child health in communities of color   

Right Start is part of the Kids Count in Michigan project, which is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Skillman Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and United Ways. The Kids Count in Michigan project is a partnership between the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's Children. You can read the full report here and the executive summary here. 

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Study: Depressed, pregnant women receive inconsistent treatment

Pregnant women who screen positive for depression are unlikely to receive consistent treatment, researchers say. That may translate to women spending more time in the hospital before babies are even born.

The Obstetric Clinics and Resources Study, published in General Hospital Psychiatry, tracked 20 health care providers in six Michigan clinics and revealed a lack of uniformity in addressing perinatal depression.

"There are a lot of barriers to translating information into everyday practice situations," said Dr. Christie Palladino, an obstetrician/gynecologist with Georgia Health Sciences University's Education Discovery Institute and principal investigator on the study. "We wanted to understand what it's like for prenatal care providers to deal with depression care."

Providers felt burdened having to make instant decisions about complex issues, the multidisciplinary research team found. And those decisions varied dramatically, even within the same clinic.

"There was no system-level support for providers," Palladino said. "They felt as if they were making decisions out on an island."

That sense of isolation, coupled with a lack of direction about how to treat pregnant women with depression, may explain why fewer than half of women who need treatment receive it. Adding to the disconnect was providers' discomfort in talking about the disease with both patients and mental health care providers.

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Study: Medicaid Coverage Makes a "Big Difference"

A new study published Thursday generated a lot of buzz for its revelations on the effect of Medicaid coverage for low-income adults. The study followed 10,000 low-income, uninsured adults in Oregon who were randomly selected in a 2008 state lottery to accept additional people into its Medicaid program. The health outcomes of these people were compared to the 80,000 applicants who weren't selected in the lottery. Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid coverage will be expanded to cover additional low-income adults in all states in 2014.

The first year of the ongoing study showed that Medicaid coverage increases the likelihood of outpatient care by 35 percent, the use of prescription drugs by 15 percent, and of hospital admission by 30 percent. This leads to about a 25 percent increase in annual health care spending. Medicaid coverage also increases the use of recommended preventive care such as mammograms by 60 percent and cholesterol monitoring by 20 percent. It also increases access to care. For example, people with Medicaid were 70 percent more likely than those without insurance to have a regular doctor's office or clinic for primary care, and were 55 percent more likely to have a particular doctor that they usually see.

The findings are published as a working paper on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research.  

"Some people wonder whether Medicaid coverage has any effect. The study findings make clear that it does. People reported that their physical and mental health were substantially better after a year of insurance coverage, and they were much less likely to have to borrow money or go into debt to pay for their care," co-principal investigator Amy Finkelstein, a professor of economics at MIT, said in the news release.

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2nd Annual SCHA-MI Golf Outing Fundraiser: August 26

The School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan (SCHA-MI) will be holding its 2nd Annual Golf Outing Fundraiser on August 26 at Brookshire Inn and Golf Club in Williamston.

SCHA-MI is a non-profit organization supporting a network of over 100 school-based and school-linked health centers and health education programs across Michigan. The centers annually serve over 200,000 children providing over 300,000 health encounters/services. The centers are located in communities where the majority of children lack access to consistent, primary health care and as a result are at-risk for chronic health conditions and school failure.

Gather a team and join SCHA-MI for a 9:30 a.m. Shotgun Start (9 holes) followed by a cookout.

Register here. 

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