From The New York Times: (click for full article)
The Census Bureau just released new data on poverty, income and health insurance for last year, and the numbers aren’t pretty. Overall poverty remained at the highs we’ve seen for the past three years, with the picture still particularly bleak for children: 15 percent of Americans and 1 in 5 children live in poverty. Lack of insurance is closely tied to that number. Nearly 14 percent of children living in poverty lacked health insurance last year, compared with under 10 percent for children overall, a number that stayed flat despite the decrease in the rate for everyone under 65.
How could this be? In theory, our country’s low-income children should all have access to health care through Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Yet 2.23 million kids living in poverty remain uninsured – the biggest group of children without coverage. This is in large part thanks to the fact that enrolling in these programs can be like clearing a jungle of red tape with a weed wacker. But failing to insure children for any reason can have serious consequences for their health. One study found that increased Medicaid coverage leads to fewer deaths, and another shows that new insurance for some low-income children made them 60 percent more likely to have an annual checkup. Merely being “eligible” for insurance doesn’t equate with being insured.
All low-income children were supposed to finally get health insurance once the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented in two years. But several factors suggest that the implementation of the health care law won’t have as powerful an impact as it should. When the Supreme Court upheld the law, it struck down the provision guaranteeing that states would expand their Medicaid programs. At least seven governors have flat out said that they’ll refuse the expansion, and others may follow suit. In theory, children living in poverty will still remain eligible for these health care programs. But as our current situation shows, theory doesn’t always match up with reality.
The Census Bureau just released new data on poverty, income and health insurance for last year, and the numbers aren’t pretty. Overall poverty remained at the highs we’ve seen for the past three years, with the picture still particularly bleak for children: 15 percent of Americans and 1 in 5 children live in poverty. Lack of insurance is closely tied to that number. Nearly 14 percent of children living in poverty lacked health insurance last year, compared with under 10 percent for children overall, a number that stayed flat despite the decrease in the rate for everyone under 65.
How could this be? In theory, our country’s low-income children should all have access to health care through Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Yet 2.23 million kids living in poverty remain uninsured – the biggest group of children without coverage. This is in large part thanks to the fact that enrolling in these programs can be like clearing a jungle of red tape with a weed wacker. But failing to insure children for any reason can have serious consequences for their health. One study found that increased Medicaid coverage leads to fewer deaths, and another shows that new insurance for some low-income children made them 60 percent more likely to have an annual checkup. Merely being “eligible” for insurance doesn’t equate with being insured.
All low-income children were supposed to finally get health insurance once the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented in two years. But several factors suggest that the implementation of the health care law won’t have as powerful an impact as it should. When the Supreme Court upheld the law, it struck down the provision guaranteeing that states would expand their Medicaid programs. At least seven governors have flat out said that they’ll refuse the expansion, and others may follow suit. In theory, children living in poverty will still remain eligible for these health care programs. But as our current situation shows, theory doesn’t always match up with reality.
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