Tag Archives: Uninsured Children

Number of uninsured children increases for first time in a decade

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https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/418884-number-of-uninsured-children-increased-for-first-time-in-a-decade-during

Number of uninsured children increases for first time in a decade

The number of uninsured children in the U.S. increased for the first time in a decade, according to a new report that puts much of the blame on policies spearheaded by Republicans.

An estimated 3.9 million children did not have health insurance in 2017, an increase of 276,000 compared to the previous year, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

No state made statistically significant progress on children’s coverage last year, despite an improving economy and low unemployment rate, according to the report, which noted that the District of Columbia made substantive gains in 2017.

Researchers said the rising number for states was due to a variety of factors, though they said GOP-led states refusing to expand Medicaid played a major role, as well as Republican efforts in Congress to repeal ObamaCare and cap federal Medicaid funding.

Three-quarters of the children who lost coverage between 2016 and 2017 live in states that have not expanded Medicaid coverage to parents and other low-income adults, the report found. The uninsured rates for children in non-expansion states increased at almost triple the rate as states that have expanded Medicaid.

The report also noted that Congress eliminated the health law’s individual mandate and the Trump administration dramatically cut ObamaCare outreach and enrollment grants while shortening the open enrollment period.

“All of these changes in the national political and policy realm mark a sharp reversal after many years of successful efforts to reduce the uninsured rate for children and families,” the researchers wrote.

The report’s prognosis for the future was not encouraging.

“Barring new and serious efforts to get back on track, there is every reason to believe the decline in coverage is likely to continue and may get worse in 2018,” researchers concluded.

The number of uninsured children in the U.S. was particularly high in Florida and Texas, the two largest states that have not expanded Medicaid, according to the report.

Texas had an estimated 80,000 more children uninsured in 2017 than in 2016, and Florida had 37,000 more.

Researchers also pointed to President Trump‘s recent crackdown on immigration as a reason why the number of uninsured kids is rising.

One quarter of all children under 18 living in the United States have a parent who is an immigrant, according to the report. Several policies targeting immigrant communities, like the administration’s “public charge” proposal, are likely deterring parents from enrolling their eligible children in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, despite the fact that most of these children are U.S. citizens.

 

 

Many Insured Children Lack Essential Health Care, Study Finds

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A new study to be released on Monday by the Children’s Health Fund, a nonprofit based in New York City that expands access to health care for disadvantaged children, found that one in four children in the United States did not have access to essential health care, though a record number of young people now have health insurance.

The report found that 20.3 million people in the nation under the age of 18 lack “access to care that meets modern pediatric standards.”

Guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics say that all children should get health maintenance visits for immunizations and other preventive services; management of acute and chronic medical conditions; access to mental health support and dental care; and have round-the-clock availability of emergency services and timely access to subspecialists.

While Medicaid and many private insurance plans recommend or require that all of those services be provided, under the umbrella of what is known as the medical home, the study found that millions of insured children are not receiving many of the benefits.

There are many children with insurance who cannot get primary care and those who do can often have problems getting specialty care.

As President-elect Donald J. Trump, a Republican, vows to repeal some, if not all, of the Affordable Care Act, which extended health care coverage to an additional 20 million people, the report’s authors worry that even more children could have trouble receiving the care they need.

“The fact that more than 20 million children in the U.S. experience insurance and noninsurance barriers to getting comprehensive and timely health care is a challenge that needs to get the highest-priority attention from the new administration,” said the report’s lead author, Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the nonprofit Children’s Health Fund and a professor of pediatrics and health policy and management at Columbia University.

Over the past two decades, the number of children without health insurance has steadily decreased to 3.3 million last year from around 10 million in 1997, according to an analysis of federal data and the federal government’s 2015 National Health Interview Survey.

The effort to extend coverage began 50 years ago with the creation of Medicaid, which provides health insurance for the poor. It continued more recently with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which offers low-cost coverage to those who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and, under the Obama administration, with the Affordable Care Act, offering subsidized coverage and state exchanges.