The Texas Tribune
By: Marissa Evans
The recent report by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families showed that Texas holds the second highest rate for uninsured children in the nation. Between 2013 and 2015, Texas only decreased from 16.6% to %9.5 — remaining above the national average for uninsured children: 4.8%. As Joan Alker, executive director of CCF and co-author of the report, mentioned, there is still work to be done.
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A Georgetown University Center for Children and Families report released Thursday found that Texas still ranks second-worst in the nation for uninsured children, even though the rate of Texas kids without insurance decreased from 16.6 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2015. The national average was 4.8 percent in 2015.
Joan Alker, the center’s executive director, said Texas lags behind other big states like California, which has tried to streamline its application process online with its state health insurance exchange, done more outreach to underrepresented communities and expanded Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Under the federal health law, people who make up to 138 percent of the poverty line are eligible for Medicaid. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have taken up the offer.
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