The Vindicator
By: Justin Wier
Slightly more than 80 percent of Youngstown City School District students receive health care through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program – the highest percentage in Ohio.
Two other Mahoning Valley schools round out the top 11, with 71.9 percent of students in the Warren City School District and 69.8 percent of students in the Campbell City School District receiving health insurance through Medicaid, according to data from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families.
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Elisabeth Wright Burak, director of Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, said recent studies have shown Medicaid is correlated with better educational outcomes and graduation rates and higher lifetime earnings.
“It’s been really encouraging to see these longer-term outcomes,” she said.
From an educational perspective, Burak said, children with insurance are less likely to miss school because of illnesses, and schools should have a stake in making sure kids have the coverage that’s available to them. “[Teachers] can’t teach to an empty seat,” she said. “Kids getting their health care needs met is a baseline thing.”
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