Left Behind:
America's Uninsured Children

A Report from Families USA, November 2008

INTRODUCTION

According to the most recent estimates from the Census Bureau, 8.6 million children in the United States lacked health coverage in 2007. That same year, Congress debated and passed two pieces of legislation that would have reduced the number of uninsured children by almost half, covering as many as 4 million additional children. President Bush vetoed both bills. This year, the mounting national economic crisis has driven up unemployment rates at a time when working families are already struggling with the rising cost of everything from food to health insurance premiums. When the economy plunges, the number of uninsured Americans typically increases. This, in turn increases the demand for safety net programs like Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Just a year ago, states were working to expand CHIP to finish the job of covering uninsured children. Since then, the Bush Administration’s opposition to expanding CHIP and the economic downturn have put new pressure on states to deal with increasing demands for coverage at the same time that their budgets are facing shortfalls.

In August 2008, the Census Bureau released new data showing that, after two consecutive years of increases, the number of uninsured children declined slightly in 2007. Last year, 8.6 million children were uninsured, about 6 percent fewer than in 2006. While this decline should be good news for working families, it underscores how hard families are being hit in this time of economic uncertainty. The Census Bureau reports that, last year, Medicaid and CHIP prevented half a million children from becoming uninsured. And that was just the beginning. The economy has deteriorated at an alarming rate in 2008, and next year, we are likely to see even more families in search of health coverage for children who have recently become uninsured. While Medicaid and CHIP have been able to pick up the slack thus far, these programs cannot continue to absorb this increased demand unless the next Congress and President take important steps to strengthen them through key policy changes and increases in funding.

This report presents data generated by the U.S. Census Bureau from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national survey of health coverage that is performed annually. Families USA contracted with the Census Bureau to provide detailed national and state-level data about health coverage for children between the ages of 0 and 18. (For state-level estimates, a three-year data merge [2005-2007] was used to improve data reliability. A detailed methodology is available upon request.) This report examines these new data and what they mean for the future of children’s health coverage.

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