The rate of uninsured children fell 35 percent from 2013 to 2014.
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And states that extended Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act experienced nearly double the rate of decline in uninsured children as compared with states that did not. Approximately 85,000 Utah children were uninsured in 2014; the same number as in 2013.
The drop in the statewide uninsured rate in 2014 was attributed to increased outreach to sign up for health insurance on the federal marketplace, and “the welcome mat effect”, which occurred as parents signed up for insurance to avoid the tax penalty under the Affordable Care Act and found out their children were eligible for coverage, too.
“That decrease in the turn rate and having 12 months continuous eligibility for kids, presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and children, a few of those simplification measures have gone a long way in decreasing our number of uninsured children”, she states.
The report ranks Ohio 21st among states for its rate of children without health care coverage.
“If Utah had accepted Medicaid expansion dollars, the state wouldn’t have fallen so far behind”, said Jessie Mandle of Voices for Utah Children. Only Alaska, Texas and Arizona are higher. When parents receive health insurance coverage, their children are more likely to be insured too.
Extending Medicaid coverage to low-income parents helps children by reducing the number of uninsured kids, boosting families’ financial security, and enabling children to get better care from healthier parents, according to researchers at Georgetown University. When we invest early and often in the health and well-being of our children, we are investing in the economic future of our commonwealth. According to the study, just under 4.4 million children in the US still don’t have health insurance. “Children thrive when their parents are healthy and economically secure so improvements in health coverage for parents benefits the whole family”. “We saw significant declines in the number of uninsured children, and we’ve seen no increases, even across the nation – it just so happens that West Virginia, in this instance, is on top”.
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“I think the greatest challenge going forward is going to be continued awareness, and then assurance, that once kids do get coverage, they receive the primary and preventive health services they need”, says Bruner.
