The Affordable Care Act (aka health care reform) will establish health insurance exchanges in each state- providing folks (and small business employees) an opportunity to get health insurance coverage starting 1/1/14. The future exchanges will provide competitive marketplaces for folks to directly compare and buy private health insurance based on price, quality, and other things. The law [...]
Now that the Supreme Court has spoken regarding the Affordable Care Act- States have a lot more clarity around the decisions they'll need to make and what they need to do to implement the law. The Governor kicked off a process to review the options and engage Stakeholders for their input this week. Additional meetings are being scheduled in the coming [...]
Teen pregnancy is a key public health indicator because of the profound negative health outcomes related to a lack of education and economic opportunity. For example, only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma versus approximately 90% of their peers. The disadvantages caused by a teen pregnancy can last a lifetime- and even spill over to [...]
Late last week we awarded two new community-based contracts for the new Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) funds: BJ Youth Foundation and Mariposa Community Health Center. PREP is the new federal program from the Affordable Care Act that requires programs educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This [...]
Last week we awarded 4 community-based contracts for the new Personal Responsibility Education Program funds to prevent teen pregnancy in AZ. The funding we’ll be passing through to our new contractors is part of the Affordable Care Act- and requires programs educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception as ways to prevent pregnancy and STDs. All [...]
A new issue brief from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) offers states suggestions on how to better coordinate and integrate home visitation programs to improve early childhood initiatives. Maximizing the Impact of State Early Childhood Home Visitation Programs examines how states can better integrate home visiting programs into an effective [...]
Preventing teen pregnancy could save the United States about $9 Billion per year.Teen mothers face higher rates of preterm birth, and their kids have higher rates of low birth weight, and infant death. Teen mothers are more likely to drop out of high school and remain single parents.They’re more likely to be jailed at some time [...]
To combat teen pregnancy, ADHS uses multiple approaches that best fit with needs of local communities. Our Bureau of Women’s & Children’s Health has implemented teen pregnancy prevention programs since 1997 and currently administers the Abstinence Education Program and Comprehensive Education using lottery dollars and new federal funding authorized through the Affordable Care Act. The federal [...]
Preventing teen pregnancies could save Arizona more than $180M/year. Teen mothers face higher rates of preterm birth, and their kids have higher rates of low birth weight and infant death. Compared to women who delay childbearing until the age of 20 to 21 years, teenage moms are more likely to drop out of high school and to [...]
Recent research on brain development has found long-term benefits for families when they receive home visits during pregnancy and after the birth of a child. Benefits include enhanced child health and development, reduced child abuse and neglect, early identification and treatment of developmental delays and health issues, improved pregnancy outcomes, improved self-sufficiency of the family, [...]
