Medicaid

Watching President Obama's television address and the Republican response from House Speaker John Boehner last night, it was hard to forget that I wasn't watching a brilliant bit of political satire on "The Daily Show," but a real life crisis unfolding. The fact that the world's richest country is dancing on the brink of defaulting on our debt is hard to imagine. But once you get over the surreal nature of this political game of chicken, the potential consequences become extremely serious.

Nearly half of children in DC are covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance to children from low-income families who do not qualify for Medicaid. This is a good thing, because it means that low-income children have health insurance. But unfortunately, being covered by Medicaid doesn't mean that children have access to treatment when they need it.