The current medical support enforcement system is ineffective. Modeled on outdated assumptions, it does not reflect present realities that limit the availability, affordability, and stability of dependent health coverage. The recommendations contained in this report will greatly reduce impediments to medical support enforcement and establish a new paradigm, ensuring that all 21 million IV-D eligible children have accessible, comprehensive, and seamless health care coverage.
The Working Group recognizes that all proposed solutions cannot be implemented immediately. Nor can they be accomplished at all without the coordinated commitment of the public and private sectors — a partnership forged on our shared responsibility to America's children. Reforms will cost money. To some degree our recommendations require financial contributions from parents, employers, and the private insurance industry, in addition to government. They also require time, dedication, innovation, and flexibility, as these solutions are tested and even better ideas evolve from the research. Mostly, just as the Working Group developed consensus from disparate interests and legitimate competing concerns, so too must society forge a consensus to ensure that health care is a reality for all America's children.
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Contents of Report
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HHS Fatherhood Initiative
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
(ASPE)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS)
Last updated: 11/21/00