Public News Service

By: Stephanie Carson

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%. Furthermore, Tennessee has now 96% of its children with health insurance, contributing to this nationwide historical rate.

Between 2013 and 2015, 23,000 more children became insured. Linda O’Neal, executive director of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, attributed their success to CHIP or Tenncare. However, she mentioned that there are still 60,000 children uninsured and, so, there’s still work to do there.

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Almost 96 percent of Tennessee children have health insurance with an additional 23,000 children getting coverage since 2013, according to a report released today from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, says while the election is highlighting areas where the country disagrees on health care, progress has still been made in securing coverage for those in need.

“We see success around the country and I think this speaks to how despite all of the fighting and very intense partisanship around the Affordable Care Act, we can feel good as a country that we’ve come together through Medicaid, CHIP and the Affordable Care Act and really reduced the number of uninsured children,” she stresses.

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