Research & Reports
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The Number of Uninsured Children is on the Rise
[Editor’s Note: For the most recent report on children’s health coverage, click here.] Introduction For many years, the nation has been on a positive trajectory reducing the number and rate of uninsured children. Having health insurance is important for children as they are more likely to receive needed services, have better educational outcomes, and their…
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Strategies to Address Alarming Decline in Children’s Health Coverage
In this blog series, CCF Executive Director and Research Professor Joan Alker previews her ninth annual report on children’s health coverage and examines the alarming increase in the number of uninsured children after years of bipartisan success in reducing the child uninsured rate. Research Professor Tricia Brooks — a policy expert and former state CHIP…
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Promoting Health Coverage of American Indian and Alaska Native Children
Introduction In 2017 there were approximately 774,000 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children under age 19, comprising about 1 percent of the 78.1 million children nationwide. AI/AN children are disproportionately poor, experience major health disparities, and are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as U.S. children overall. It goes without saying that…
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How the New Public Charge Rule Impacts Children in Immigrant Communities
Editor’s Note: On September 9, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule called Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility that will restore longstanding public charge policy effective December 23, 2022. Learn more in our factsheet. Executive Summary The final “public charge” rule changes immigration law and policy in ways that will shift the U.S.…
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How the Lawsuit to Overturn the Affordable Care Act Would Further Harm Medicaid and CHIP Coverage of Children
Introduction Texas vs. United States, the lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety, continues to proceed apace through the federal courts, despite its extraordinarily weak legal reasoning. Most of the attention is rightfully focused on how the case could increase the number of uninsured in the nation by 20 million people,…
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Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Decline Suggests the Child Uninsured Rate May Rise Again
Executive Summary There is no debate over the fact that children are losing Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage. Overall, more than 828,000, or 2.2 percent, fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, combined, at the end of 2018 than the previous year. A drop in child enrollment is unusual; between 2000…
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Medicaid Expansion Fills Gaps in Maternal Health Coverage Leading to Healthier Mothers and Babies
Introduction Disruptions in health coverage are associated with adverse health consequences. This is especially true for women in their childbearing years, when a pregnancy means having health coverage is even more important. The stakes are high as the care a woman receives during pregnancy is critical to her own health, as well as to the…
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State Medicaid and CHIP Snapshots, 2019
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) created factsheets underscoring the importance of Medicaid in providing coverage for children in all 51 states (including the District of Columbia). Sources are available. Previous snapshots can be found here.
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How Medicaid and CHIP Can Support Student Success through Schools
Seventh in a series of briefs on the future of children’s health care coverage Summary Recognizing that a healthy student is a better student, education and health officials have begun working closely in the past few years to integrate their efforts. Recent changes to federal education law, new grant programs and revised Medicaid rules have…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2019: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Executive Summary This 17th annual survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) provides data on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost sharing policies as of January 2019. It is based on a telephone survey of state Medicaid and CHIP officials conducted by the Kaiser…
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The Questions to Ask When Assessing the Impact of Coverage Expansion Proposals on Children
Sixth in a series of briefs on the future of children’s health care coverage Introduction With the outcome of the November midterm elections, the risk of federal legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and impose a cap on federal Medicaid funding has receded. Instead, there is renewed attention by some policymakers…
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Estimated CHIP Enrollment by Congressional District, 2017
The following workbook estimates the number of children ever enrolled in CHIP in 2017 by congressional district. See the notes tab in the workbook for information on data sources and methodology. View the 2016 workbook.
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Work Reporting Requirement for Tennessee Parents Would Harm Low-Income Families with Children
Introduction Tennessee is seeking federal permission to impose a work reporting requirement on low-income parents and caregivers receiving health coverage through Medicaid. Under the proposal, these beneficiaries ages 19 to 64 would have to document that they are working at least 20 hours a week or participating in job-training, education, or volunteer activities in order…
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Medicaid Waiver Proposal For Oklahoma Medicaid Beneficiaries Would Harm Low-Income Families With Children
Introduction Through an amendment to its Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, Oklahoma is seeking federal permission to impose work reporting rules on very low-income parents and caregivers age 19-50 receiving health coverage through Medicaid. Parents of children below age six would be exempt. Under the proposal, which would be phased in, these beneficiaries would have…
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How to Strengthen the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to Address Rising Medicaid Prescription Drug Costs
Fifth in a series of briefs on the future of children’s health care coverage Introduction Prescription drugs are essential for the health of tens of millions of low-income children enrolled in Medicaid. They not only are part of routine pediatric care but also provide critical treatment and maintenance for chronic conditions such as asthma and…
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Low-Income Families with Children Will Be Harmed by South Carolina’s Proposed Medicaid Work Reporting Requirement
[Editor’s Note: On March 4, 2019 South Carolina posted a revised application for state public comment.] Introduction South Carolina officials are proposing that very low-income parents and caregivers who qualify for Medicaid fulfill new reporting requirements to show they are working at least 80 hours a month or participating in job- training activities — or…
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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…
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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…
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Nation’s Progress on Children’s Health Coverage Reverses Course
Introduction For the first time since comparable data was first collected in 2008, the nation’s steady progress in reducing the number of children without health insurance reversed course. The number of uninsured children under age 19 nationwide increased by an estimated 276,000 to about 3.9 million (3,925,000) in 2017, according to newly-available data from the…
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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…
