Coverage for Children Under 6 Reversed Course Between 2016 and 2017

For the first time in nearly a decade, the rate of young children without health insurance significantly increased between 2016 and 2017, reversing years of steady progress in reducing the nation’s uninsured rate for children, particularly in the early years. Mirroring national trends for children age 18 and under, state Medicaid coverage rates for children […]

Using Medicaid to Ensure the Healthy Social and Emotional Development of Infants and Toddlers

Part I: Executive Summary Each child’s social-emotional development underpins overall development and greatly influences his or her lifelong trajectory. Infants and toddlers experience a period of rapid brain development marked by great possibility and vulnerability, depending on their family and community contexts. The first years of life are particularly crucial to a child’s development of […]

How Proposed Changes to Public Charge Would Impact Children in Immigrant Communities

Editor’s Note, 10/15/19: Several federal courts have issued nationwide injunctions blocking implementation of the proposed changes to the public charge rule. We will update any further developments. Introduction The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposed regulation that would radically change U.S. immigration policy. The changes would ripple through nearly every aspect of the […]

Health Insurance Coverage in Small Towns and Rural America: The Role of Medicaid Expansion

Introduction Medicaid has been a key factor in lowering the percentage of Americans who lack health insurance. Nationally, the uninsured rate for all Americans under the age of 65 (adults and children) fell dramatically between 2010 and 2016 from 18.2 percent to 10.4 percent, rising slightly to 10.7 percent in 2017. Expansion of Medicaid coverage […]