Reporter Jenny Gold analyzed state Medi-Cal data for 2021. Her findings on health care access for kids in the California public insurance program are sobering:
🟡 60% of babies—and 75% of Black babies—did not get their recommended well-child visits in their first 15 months of life.
🟡 65% of 2-year-olds were not fully vaccinated, leaving them vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases like measles.
🟡 Half of children did not receive a lead screening by their second birthday.
Our colleagues at PRB have been publishing on this for awhile. In 2022 we published a bulletin, Dying Young, that looks at why our early-life mortality rates are so much higher than other wealthy nations. If you're interested, you can read it here: https://www.prb.org/resources/dying-young-in-the-united-states/
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