child care - Digital Library Collections

THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998
Table 2.2
Child Health Coverage: Best and Worst States·
Ten best states
Ten worst states
Rank
State
Percentage of
children
uninsured Rank State
Percentage of
children
uninsured
1 Wisconsin 6.4% 51 Texas 24.1%
2 Hawaii 6.7 50 New Mexico 22.9
3 Vermont 7.0 49 Arizona 22.4
4 Minnesota 7.1 48 Oklahoma 20.8
5 North Dakota 7.9 47 Louisiana 20.3
6 Michigan 8.1 46 Arkansas 19.3
7 South Dakota 8.5 45 Nevada 19.1
8 Pennsylvania 9.3 44 California 18.7
8 Massachusetts 9.3 43 Mississippi 18.6
10 Nebraska 9.4 42 Florida 17.5
'Including the District of Columbia.
Source: U.S. Deportment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, March Current Population Surveys for 1994-96. Calculations
by Children's Defense Fund.
for children with family income up to 185 percent
of the federal poverty level, corroborates these
fmdings. The Florida report states that when parents
got help in buying coverage for uninsured
children, more children received health care in
doctors' offices and fewer were treated in hospital
emergency rooms. According to the report, children's
emergency room visits dropped by 70 percent
in the areas served by the program, saving
state taxpayers and consumers $13 million in
1996.
CHIP: A Landmark Federal-State
Partnership for Child Health
Temendous help for uninsured children came
in 1997 with enactment of the new State Children's
Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as
part ofthe Balanced Budget Act. A core ofcongressionalleaders,
including Senators Kennedy, Hatch,
Chafee, and Rockefeller and Representatives
Johnson, Matsui, and Dingell, championed the
program. The campaign for Child Health Now, a
broad-based coalition of more than 250 organizations,
garnered support for the measure, and it
passed with strong bipartisan backing. On August
5, 1997, President Clinton signed the bill into law,
approving the largest funding increase for children's
health insurance coverage since the original
enactment of Medicaid in 1965.
CHIP represents one of the most significant
developments for children's health in decades. Effective
October I, 1997, it provides $48 billion
over 10 years for children's health coverage. The
program includes targeted Medicaid expansions
and state grants of roughly $4 billion annually to
cover uninsured children with family income
above current Medicaid eligibility levels but too
low to afford private health insurance. As many as
5 million uninsured children could benefit, depending
on how states implement the new program.
States need to move quickly so that children
receive necessary health care as soon as possible
(see box 2.1).
26 CHI L D R EN'S D E FEN S E FUN D