About Children Without Health Insurance

Children without health insurance typically come from low-income families that cannot afford health insurance coverage. Low-income families often cannot obtain affordable health insurance that is provided by an employer. As a result there are millions of children who go without the health care coverage that they need. There are many governmental programs available to obtain health care coverage for uninsured children.

Uninsured Rates

• Data from the Unites States Census Bureau indicates that, after two years of increases, the number of insured children decreased from 8.7 million in 2006 to 8.1 million in 2007, a decrease of 11 percent. The number of children should decrease even more now that the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was reauthorized in February 2009. As a result, up to 4 million more uninsured children should be able receive health care coverage.

Chidren's Health Insurance Program

• The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a part of the Medicaid program that is state-sponsored. Families with uninsured children that do not qualify for Medicaid may qualify for the CHIP program. CHIP provides health insurance for children under the age of 19 for families that do not qualify for Medicaid and do not currently have health insurance coverage. Families who qualify are typically not charged for coverage.

Medicaid

• Families with children who are uninsured can apply for coverage under their state's version of the Medicaid program. Medicaid is a health care program that is funded by the federal government but administered by each state. Eligibility requirements are determined by each state and are based on a family's income level. Same families may be required to pay a small co-payment for health care services depending on the state.

Program Enrollment

• Data from the March 2007 Current Population Survey indicates that there were just over 6 million uninsured children that were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but were not enrolled in either program. Reasons for this include not knowing how to enroll and not understanding the enrollment process. Other reasons can include not wanting to be on a "welfare" program, an individual's or family's immigration states and not trusting programs that are run by the government or the medical system.

Retention

• Families that are currently enrolled in a government-sponsored health care program such as Medicaid and CHIP do not automatically retain their enrollment year after year. Enrollment in these programs needs to be renewed or children will become uninsured. Failure of families to retain their enrollment status is one of the biggest reasons why some children are left without health insurance coverage. State programs that provide "in-reach" and "outreach" efforts can increase program enrollment and retention.