skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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 Shows NY a Leader in Children’s Health Insurance

play audio
Play

Wednesday, October 30, 2019   

ALBANY, N.Y. - The number of children without health insurance is on the rise nationally, according to a new report, but New York is holding the line.

The report, from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, found that between 2016 and 2018, the number of uninsured children nationwide increased by more than 400,000 while New York continued to reduce those numbers.

Kate Breslin, president and chief executive of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, said that with only 2.5% uninsured, the state ranks fifth in the nation overall for the percentage who have coverage.

"I think one of the things that we're doing right is continue to make sure that all kids are covered, whether they're in urban areas or rural areas," she said. "New York has been a beacon for that."

However, she cautioned that the Trump administration's proposed "public charge" rule has raised fears among immigrant families, causing many to pull out of important health programs.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center, noted that other states have made it harder to enroll in or stay enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

"We're hearing a lot around the country about parents having to produce a lot more paperwork than they used to," she said, "and also being cut off - many times without even realizing their child has been cut off until they show up in the doctor's office."

She said federal attacks on the Affordable Care Act, cutting funds for outreach and eliminating the individual coverage mandate also have reduced the number of children with insurance.

Breslin said making it harder for adults to get health insurance not only threatens their own ability to stay healthy but also threatens their children's access to health care.

"It's important that we remember how important it is that parents have coverage," she said, "because kids are more likely to get the care that they need when parents have coverage."

The report said even a short-term loss of health insurance exposes a family to the risk of poverty from medical debt.

The Georgetown report is online at ccf.georgetown.edu, and a state-specific data hub is at kidshealthcarereport.ccf.georgetown.edu.

Disclosure: Georgetown University Center for Children & Families contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021