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Health Equity

  • Latino Children’s Coverage

    CCFadmin

    Having health insurance is important for children to grow and thrive. Latino children are more likely than other children to be uninsured, but efforts to reduce this coverage disparity by expanding affordable coverage options such as Medicaid, CHIP, and the Affordable Care Act paid off – the rate of uninsured Latino children decreased to historic…

  • New Resource from Legal Experts about Access to Health Insurance

    Kelly Whitener

    Earlier this month, the experts at CLASP, NILC and NHeLP teamed up and released a new resource, 10 Facts About Access to Health Insurance for Immigrants and their Families, breaking down the barrage of anti-immigrant polices in just 2, easily understood pages. This resource comes just in time for open enrollment – for ACA Marketplace…

  • States that Expanded Medicaid are Helping to Protect Children from Becoming Uninsured

    Adam Searing

    Our annual report on the state of children’s coverage is out. It’s a deep dive into a disturbing trend – children across the country are losing affordable health coverage, rolling back gains started with the Affordable Care Act.  One main cause of this drop in coverage is easily fixed.  The 14 states that haven’t expanded…

  • Promoting Health Coverage of American Indian and Alaska Native Children

    CCFadmin

    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.[note]Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of the U.S. Census 2017 American Community Survey data from American Fact Finder Table C27001C using 1-year estimates of AI/AN alone.[/note]…

  • How the New Public Charge Rule Impacts Children in Immigrant Communities

    Kelly Whitener

    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.…

  • Research Update: New Study on Medicaid Fee Bump on Prenatal Care Utilization

    CCFadmin

    This week, I am reading a study finding that a temporary increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care in 2013-2014 increased utilization of prenatal care among expectant mothers, particularly among non-Hispanic Black/African American women.  The Maternal and Child Health Journal’s Effect of the Medicaid Primary Care Rate Increase on Prenatal Care Utilization Among Medicaid-Insured…

  • House Committee Advances Bill to Sustain Medicaid Programs in the Territories and Avoid Deep, Harmful Cuts

    Edwin Park

    On July 11, by voice vote, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reported out essential legislation (H.R. 3631) to avert large federal Medicaid funding shortfalls the territories will face starting in 2020.  Without additional federal funding the bill would provide, the territories would have no choice but to institute damaging cuts…

  • Proposed HUD Rule Adds to Climate of Fear for Immigrant Families, Puts America’s Children at Greater Risk of Homelessness

    Kelly Whitener

    Yesterday was the deadline for comments on yet another anti-immigrant proposed rule, this one targeting over 55,000 citizen children in mixed status families that rely on prorated housing assistance under current program rules. We joined other child health groups in submitting comments, underscoring the serious negative impacts of homelessness and housing insecurity for child well-being…

  • Sound House Bill Would Establish Pathway for a Sustainable, Improved Medicaid Program in Puerto Rico

    Edwin Park

    As we wrote last year, Congress should consider making permanent changes to Puerto Rico’s federal Medicaid financing structure to ensure the long-term viability of its Medicaid program.  This includes eliminating Puerto Rico’s federal funding cap over time, raising the federal matching rate and requiring fuller compliance with the same federal Medicaid requirements that now apply…

  • Medicaid Expansion Fills Gaps in Maternal Health Coverage Leading to Healthier Mothers and Babies

    Adam Searing

    Introduction Disruptions in health coverage are associated with adverse health consequences.[note] B.D. Sommers et al., “Insurance Churning Rates For LowIncome Adults Under Health Reform: Lower Than Expected But Still Harmful For Many,” Health Affairs 35, no. 10 (October 2016), available at https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0455.[/note] This is especially true for women in their childbearing years, when a pregnancy…

  • How Are States Using Medicaid to Pay for Home Visiting? New Paper Offers More Clarity

    Elisabeth Wright Burak

    As we’ve sought to identify concrete ways Medicaid can better support young children’s development, one of the clearest opportunities of high interest to policymakers is expanding home visiting programs for pregnant women and young children. Using Medicaid for home visiting is not a new concept, but a number of factors have raised the profile of…

  • African American Women Mayors Champion Policies to Improve Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes

    Candace Webb

    The United States has a dismal track record when it comes to maternal and infant mortality. One of the wealthiest countries in the world, the U.S. has fallen behind and now ranks 32nd in maternal mortality and 33rd in infant mortality out of the 36 wealthiest nations. Within the U.S., the infant mortality rate varies…

  • Disparities exist in children’s coverage by race/ethnicity, income and maternal health

    Karina Wagnerman

    [Editor’s Note: For the most up-to-date data on children’ health coverage by race and ethnicity, see our current snapshot.] CCF recently updated our Snapshot of Children’s Coverage by Race and Ethnicity. The updated fact sheet includes the percentage of children residing in each state by race and ethnicity and the percentage of children covered by…

  • Snapshot of Children’s Coverage by Race and Ethnicity

    Tricia Brooks

    Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are primary sources of health coverage for children. These programs are particularly important to children of color, who are disproportionately represented among beneficiaries because they are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. Read and download our snapshots Snapshot of Children with Medicaid by Race and Ethnicity, 2018…

  • Research Update: Health Care in Rural and Urban America

    Karina Wagnerman

    CCF is starting a new series on research in health policy. I will regularly highlight some of the new research that I have been reading. This week, I am reading studies comparing health care and poverty in rural and urban parts of the country. AHRQ’s National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report: Chartbook on Rural Health…

  • New Data Shows Child Health Coverage Rate Racial Disparities are Narrowing

    Olivia Pham

    Last month, the Center for Children and Families reported that almost 2 million children have gained health insurance since the implementation of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. More good news from our colleagues at the Commonwealth Fund: in their analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, researchers found that racial…

  • Medicaid And CHIP Help Address Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Children’s Health

    Karina Wagnerman

    Medicaid and CHIP are primary sources of health coverage for all children. These programs play a particularly important role for children of color, who are disproportionately represented among beneficiaries because they are more likely to be economically disadvantaged (see figure below). CCF’s new fact sheet unpacks child population and Medicaid/CHIP data by state. We know…

  • Snapshot of Children’s Coverage by Race and Ethnicity

    Tricia Brooks

    Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are primary sources of health coverage for children. These programs are particularly important to children of color, who are disproportionately represented among beneficiaries because they are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. (View our 2018 snapshot of children’s coverage by race and ethnicity.)

  • Improving Health Equity Through Early Childhood Primary Health Care and Medicaid

    CCFadmin

    It is in the first 1000 days of life that health practitioners actually can have the greatest impact upon a person’s healthy growth and development. The P.A.R.E.N.T.S. Science (Protective factors, Adverse childhood experiences, Resiliency, Epigenetics, Neurobiology, Toxic stress, and Social determinants of health) points to the critical importance of setting a positive health trajectory during…