Public News Service

By: Suzanne Potter

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%. Nevada contributed to this historical rate, as between 2013 and 2015, it reduced the rate of uninsured children from 15% to 7.5%.

Denise Tanata, executive director of Children’s Action Alliance of Nevada, mentioned that this historical rate can be attributed to their governor, who expanded Medicaid with the Affordable Care Act. Even though they have seen “a huge increase”, there is still work to do because there are still 500,000 children who need insurance.

…

Nevada cut the number of uninsured children by almost half from 2013 to 2015, according to a new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

Joan Alker, executive director at the Georgetown Center and co-author of the report, said big things can happen when lawmakers put children’s needs first.

“We see success around the country,” Alker said; “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.”

This is good news that few people seem to know about, she said. A recent poll showed that half of Americans think the percentage of uninsured children is increasing, and only 28 percent know that the rate is actually going down.

…

Read more here