Even as unemployment and child poverty has grown, the uninsured rate for children has decreased by 14% nationwide, according to the report we just released today at back-to-back Capitol Hill briefings.  It was great to share this good news at House and Senate briefings with overflowing crowds.  The briefings were sponsored by the “Children’s Health Group”, a coalition of nearly 40 national organizations. 

Dr Marion Burton, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Mark Wietecha, President and CEO of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Dianne and Carissa Malley, a family from New Jersey, joined me at the podium.  Carissa, a 15-year-old girl with Downs Syndrome, stole the show with her charismatic personality as her mother explained how their family would be bankrupt if Medicaid had not helped them meet the high cost of her medical care.

I spent the day answering questions from reporters and hill staffers about the report and most wanted to know what was behind the drop in uninsurance rates.  As most Say Ahhh! readers know, the answer is: Medicaid and CHIP.  These two federal-state partnerships are responsible for one of the few bright spots in an otherwise challenging landscape for children and families.  They have continued to fill the void created by a decline in employer-based health insurance, rising unemployment and the increasing cost of private health insurance.

In the report, CCF researchers used newly available American Community Survey data to more closely examine the impact of Medicaid and CHIP on the lives of children on a state-by-state basis.  Here’s what we found:

• The vast majority of states, 34 to be precise, saw a decline in the uninsured rate for children.
• Florida made the most progress in reducing the number of uninsured children over the three-year period, but it still has one of the highest rates and largest number of uninsured children in the nation. Just six states (Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New York and Texas) account for more than half of the uninsured children nationally.
• Seven states saw an increase in the number of uninsured children but in only one state, Minnesota, was the change statistically significant.  Minnesota’s children lost ground with 11,672 more uninsured children in 2010 than in 2008.

(To see how children are faring in your state, please view the table or map in the report.)

While the country made progress in covering children, there are some important differences in coverage levels among demographic groups that are worth noting:

• Hispanic, American Indian and Native Alaskan children remain disproportionately uninsured;
• Older children are less likely to be covered than younger children;
• Uninsurance rates are higher for children living in families earning below 50 percent of the poverty line even though the vast majority of them are eligible for Medicaid coverage.

Kudos to those state leaders who, with strong federal support through Medicaid and CHIP,  have provided some much needed peace of mind to many families struggling to meet their children’s health care needs during perilous economic times.  It is important to stay focused as these gains could quickly be reversed if state or federal support erodes.