Children Eligible For Medicaid And CHIP Still Uninsured
According to a new report, about five million uninsured children in the U.S. were eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but were not enrolled in either of the two plans.
The study recommended policy reforms for broader efforts to get children that are uninsured into government medical programs.Â
The report by Washington-based Urban Institute Health Policy Center said that in 2008, about 7.3 million children were uninsured and 65 percent of them were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP coverage.
The study, which was published on Friday in the journal Health Affairs, found that 39 percent of eligible uninsured children live in California, Texas and Florida. It said that over half of the nation’s children live in these states.
"This new data will help us to focus our efforts and our grant funding where they are most needed," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "We now have a much better sense of where most uninsured children live, and which communities may need more help."
Medicaid is the joint state-federal health plan for the poor, disabled and elderly. CHIP helps to provide coverage for children in families who cannot afford private health insurance coverage, but make too much to be qualified for Medicaid.
"No child should have to skip a doctor’s appointment or go without the medicine they need because their family can’t pay," Sebelius told Reuters, challenging state and local officials to "find and enroll those five million kids."
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