Public News Service
By: Veronica Carter
According to the new report by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, the rates of insured children nationwide reached a historical high of 95%. Between 2013 and 2015, Minnesota also reduced 45% of uninsured children – now having 97% of children covered with insurance. This is great for Minnesota, but, of course, there is still worked to be done as approximately 39,000 children are still uninsured.
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It’s a historic milestone, according to a report released today by Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, says Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Affordable Care Act have all been working well together.
“The data set that we use just goes back to 2008, but there are other Census Bureau statistics that go back 30, 40 years,” she states. “So I think we can feel confident that we do have the highest level of health insurance coverage for kids ever.”
Alker notes that the drop in the number of uninsured children was widespread across income, racial and geographic lines.
She says many Americans are not aware of tremendous progress being made.
“We just did a poll and about half of Americans thought the number of uninsured children was actually increasing,” she explains. “Only 28 percent were aware that the number has actually gone down.
“So this is a success that we’ve had as a country, it’s not well known and it’s something we can all feel good about.”
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