The number of uninsured children in the US exploded to nearly a half million in two years, despite there being a period of economic growth. This number may increase more rapidly if there is an economic downturn. According to a new state-by-state analysis by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families, there are over 4 million uninsured children in the nation raising the rate from 4.7 to 5.2 percent.
Researchers place the blame of the increase on recent policy changes which have the U.S. “now reverting backward on children’s health coverage.” “Recent policy changes and the failure to make children’s health a priority have undercut bipartisan initiatives and the Affordable Care Act, which had propelled our nation forward on children’s health coverage,” Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and a research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, says in a statement. “This serious erosion of child health coverage is due in large part to the Trump Administration’s actions or inactions that have made health coverage harder to access and have deterred families from enrolling their eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP.”
Some of the causes for the increases are attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid cuts, elimination of individual mandate penalty, and delays in funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
According to the report, the most children impacted are white and Latinx children, children under the age of six, and the children of families with low to moderate incomes. Texas has the largest number of uninsured children with 20 percent of all children being uninsured.
Access the report for more information .
Source:
Reynolds, Keith A. “Report: Number of uninsured children in U.S. grows.” Medical Economics, . Accessed 31 October 2019.