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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: More Kids Gaining Health Coverage Under ACA

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Tuesday, September 26, 2017   

DENVER – The number of Colorado kids without health insurance hit an all-time low of four percent last year, according to new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

The center found that between 2013 and 2016, an estimated 51,000 more Colorado kids gained coverage.

Erin Miller with the Colorado Children's Campaign points to the ACA's "welcome mat" effect as a big driver of the gains.

"As the Affordable Care Act went into effect, families started looking at their coverage options, and they realized that their kids were eligible for public health insurance programs," she explains. "So we've really seen great gains in getting kids who are eligible for Medicaid and CHIP covered by those programs."

Nationally, nearly a quarter million more children gained coverage in the past year, according to the report, and some 2 million more kids have insurance after the ACA rollout. The center found the share of children covered by employer-sponsored insurance has remained flat over the past three years.

Joan Alker, the report's author, says progress could be rolled back if Congress cuts Medicaid or does not renew the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which is set to expire September 30th. She adds having health insurance has broad and long-term positive impacts.

"We know that having coverage is important for children because research shows that these children have better access to needed health services, better educational outcomes, and even better economic and health outcomes as adults," she explains.

Miller underscores what she sees as an urgent need for Congress to renew funding for CHIP, which covers kids and pregnant women who are frequently experiencing time-sensitive health situations.

"They can't experience any sort of gap in coverage," she adds. "We don't want a woman to miss one of her prenatal visits. There are kids with cancer, there are kids on transplant lists, and they need to have continuous coverage. We really need to get this program refinanced."

Since the ACA took effect in 2014, 44 states have seen improved coverage for children, with Colorado among seven states experiencing the biggest gains.


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