State Children's Health Insurance Programs Succeeding In Reducing Number Of Uninsured Children, Study Says

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 11 Aug 2006 - 11:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The percentage of children without health insurance decreased by more than 20% from 1997 to 2004, according to a report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. For the study, researchers combined survey results from two periods of time -- 1997 to 1998 and 2003 to 2004 -- and then compared them. The data come from census figures by the State Health Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota. According to the researchers, the decline in rates of uninsured children is attributable to SCHIP, which has been available in every state since 1997. The program covers those children whose parents have annual incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance. Researchers found that the percentage of children with private health insurance declined in nearly every state, but the percentage with SCHIP coverage or Medicaid increased in all but four states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Tennessee. Declines in those states were not statistically significant. Researchers found that eight million children still go without any health insurance, and about 70% of those children are eligible for coverage. The study finds that one in four children without health insurance receives no medical care each year, compared with one in eight children with health insurance. RWJF spokesperson Elaine Arkin said SCHIP "has shown that it can be successful, and it is a very important safety net for kids who are not covered" (Mulvihill, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/9).

The report is available online. Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report.

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.