A study published in the Health Affairs Journal on Friday revealed that there are close to 5 million children eligible for Child Health Care Insurance. But the sad part is, even though they are eligible for either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), these children are yet to be enrolled.
A team headed by Genevieve Kenney of the Urban Institute Health Policy Center came up with the figures after gathering the necessary data from the American Community Survey and the U.S. Census Bureau. Kenney’s team discovered that there are 7.3 million uninsured children nationwide and 64% or about 5 million are eligible for health insurance. They were also able to identify the top 10 states where these children are. Concentration of eligible children lived in three states – California, Texas and Florida – which accounted for 39% of uninsured children. It has been estimated that about 50% of the population of children reside in these 3 states.
The study also showed that more children aged 0-5 years are insured than kids 13-18 years old.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius sai d that the information that Kenney’s team provided meant that they are now able to identify the states where they can concentrate the money needed for child health care insurance. “We now have a much better sense of where most uninsured children live, and which communities may need more help,” said Sebelius.
Certain sectors are looking at ways on effective information dissemination to reach more parents who may want health coverage for their kids but do not know how to go about it. Medicaid is provided by the state for the poor while the Children’s Health Insurance Program are for those whose families have earnings that do not qualify them for Medicaid but could not afford private health insurance policies.
However, there are still talks on how this daunting task can be achieved. Suggestions included looking at income tax data and do automatic enrollment of dependents 18 years and below. Another is to enlist the help of local government units to identify and later on assist those who need to be enrolled.
Sebelius said that they are confident that the Connecting Kids to Coverage project will help to ensure that the 5 million children will be part of either Medicaid or CHIP. In the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, child health care insurance coverage should be given top priority.
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