State-Specific Medicaid/CHIP Eligibility Criteria and Their Impact on Health Care Access for Foreign-born Children Living in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: Foreign-born children are subject to discrepant state policies in determining eligibility for Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of these policies on health care access. METHODS: Data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) were used to assess associations between health care access outcomes and three categories of state health insurance eligibility: restrictive (only U.S. citizens plus immigrants who "qualified" after five-year waiting period), semi-restrictive (same as restrictive except no waiting period), and inclusive (all children). RESULTS: When compared with restrictive states, foreign-born children in inclusive states were significantly more likely to have current insurance, consistent coverage, recent preventive exams, and fewer problems paying medical bills. DISCUSSION: Extending health care eligibility to all children, regardless of immigration status, improves health care coverage and access for foreign-born children. Expansion of eligibility criteria in all states is necessary to reduce health disparities in the immigrant population.

Endurance capacity of mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel running.

Mice from four lines bred for high voluntary wheel activity run approximately 3-fold more revolutions per day and have elevated maximal oxygen consumption during forced treadmill exercise, as compared with four unselected control (C) lines. We hypothesized that these high runner (HR) lines would have greater treadmill endurance-running capacity. Ninety-six mice from generation 49 were familiarized with running on a motorized treadmill for 3 days. On days 4 and 5, mice were given an incremental speed test (starting at 20 m min(-1), increased 1.5 m min(-1) every 2 min) and endurance was measured as the total time or distance run to exhaustion. Blood samples were taken to measure glucose and lactate concentrations at rest during the photophase, during peak nightly wheel running, and immediately following the second endurance test. Individual differences in endurance time were highly repeatable between days (r=0.79), and mice tended to run longer on the second day (paired t-test, P<0.0001). Blood glucose following the treadmill test was low for all animals ( approximately 53 mg dl(-1)) and lactate was high ( approximately 6.5 mmol l(-1)), suggesting that exhaustion occurred. The HR lines had significantly higher endurance than the C lines (1-tailed P<0.05), whether or not body mass was used as a covariate in the analysis. The relationship between line means for wheel running and treadmill endurance differed between the sexes, reinforcing previous studies that indicate sex-specific responses to selective breeding. HR mice appear to have a higher endurance capacity than reported in the literature for inbred strains of mice or transgenics intended to enhance endurance.