Research shows that more and more families are relying on public forms of health insurance in order to provide their children with health insurance coverage. This growing trend is connected to the unemployment rate, and the current economy. Large budget cuts to these programs would financially devastate many families.
It seems to be a growing trend. Research that was done by the Carsey Institute, at the University of New Hampshire, shows that there has been an increase in the number of families that are using public forms of health insurance in order to provide their children with health insurance coverage. The families are choosing to get public health insurance coverage instead of going with private insurance companies.
The study reveals a lot about the reasons why this is happening. One thing that influences families to use the public insurance is job loss. Most Americans who have health insurance are able to afford it because it comes from their job. Their employer is paying at least part of what is often called “employer sponsored health insurance”. We just went through a few years where millions of people lost their jobs, (often with no warning). When a person loses his or her job, they also lose their health insurance.
A particular family might have been making too much income to qualify for Medicaid or for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program before someone in the family lost his or her job. After job loss occurs, it becomes extremely difficult for families to make ends meet, because they suddenly have a lot less income than they did before. This drop in income is what allows many families to become eligible to have their children covered by public forms of health insurance.
Families who live in rural areas, or who live in inner-city areas, typically have lower rates of health insurance coverage than did families who live in the suburbs. Between the years of 2008 and 2009, when the economy was absolutely terrible, health insurance coverage among children (through public health insurance) increased 1.3%. The biggest areas where this growth occurred was in central cities and rural areas.
Across the nation, 27 states saw a drop in the amount of private health insurance coverage for children. Perhaps it was simply too expensive to be an option for most families. The numbers were especially significant in the Midwestern United States.
Between 2008 and 2009, private health insurance coverage for children who lived in Midwestern central cities fell 4.3%. At the same time, the enrollment of children in public forms of health insurance went up by 6.5%.
There have been discussions in Congress about cutting a significant amount of funding to both the Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs. There are proposals that range from wanting to cut $100 billion dollars over ten years time, to wanting to cut $1 trillion dollars over ten years time.
If this happens, it will impact the families who are relying on public health insurance in order to give their children health insurance coverage right now. The financial affects on these families could be devastating.
Image by Andrew Michael Nathan on Flickr