Why it’s so easy for the US to cut children’s access to healthcare: ‘There’s no right to these programs’ : Cecilia Nowell / Health policy / The Guardian

Shared by Tom McDermott

Drastic cuts to an already fragile social safety net in the US are looming. The article points to the absence of a right for children's access to health care in the US as a key reason. This is in stark contrast to countries where the CRC has been adopted into national law. The right to access healthcare for children is specifically mentioned in Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This article establishes that children have the right to the "enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health" and access to "facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health". As we all know, the US signed, but never ratified the CRC, much less took its requirements into national laws.

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Summary:
The US faces significant proposed cuts to federal funding for key social support programs—Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP—which help low-income children access healthcare and nutrition. Unlike many European countries, US law doesn’t guarantee children's right to healthcare. As a result, proposed budget cuts could leave millions of children without essential services, a situation rarely seen in other developed nations.

Quotes:
“Children’s right to healthcare is not similarly protected in the US.”
“Experts say the push to cut federal funding for programs that provide health coverage to children speaks to the lack of youth protections in the US.”