RALEIGH, N.C. - Fifteen thousand North Carolina children lost health insurance coverage between 2016 and 2018, according to a report released today by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

Michelle Hughes, executive director of the advocacy organization NC Child, said the troubling trend is largely the result of state lawmakers' refusal to expand Medicaid.

"Our state Legislature could roll out the welcome mat to enroll the whole family in health-care coverage, but so far has chosen not to," she said, "and that really is probably the biggest factor behind the number of kids who are falling off the insure goals in our state."

Fourteen other states, many located in the Southeast, also are experiencing a widespread loss of children's health coverage, according to the report.

Hughes said health-insurance coverage is a critical first step in making sure children see a doctor early in life.

"Both for preventive care, so getting things like their immunizations, getting screens for developmental delays," she said, "and also for treatment, making sure that for example, if kids have asthma, that they are able to get inhalers."

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center, said Medicaid expansion is a key factor, noting that when parents go through the process of enrolling themselves in Medicaid, they are subsequently more likely to also enroll their children in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

"When you look at the data, the increase in the rate of uninsured children is nearly three times as large in states that have not expanded Medicaid," she said, "so that is a very clear way that a state could turn this negative trend around."

Even in states that have chosen to expand Medicaid, Alker said, red-tape barriers and a climate of fear and confusion - especially in immigrant communities - has left many families hesitant to enroll their eligible children in Medicaid or CHIP. In 2018, North Carolina had a total of 130,000 uninsured children, the seventh highest number in the nation.

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

Missouri has stepped up to fight childhood hunger by providing food aid over the summer for kids who rely on school meals for nutrition.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's SuN Bucks program, launched this year, provides eligible families with a one-time, $120 EBT card per child to help cover grocery costs during the summer months.

Christine Woody, food security policy manager for the nonprofit Empower Missouri, said she is happy the program is available for families. However, she noted Missouri state departments involved in distributing the benefits had delays, meaning kids needing summer food aid did not receive it until fall this year.

"I'm just grateful that Missouri did it and I think the department had a lot of lessons learned, so 2025 is going to be a whole different experience," Woody asserted. "I'm hopeful that the kids will actually get the benefits in the summer when their families actually need it."

Families have 122 days to use the one-time SuN Bucks benefit after receiving their card. Research shows almost half of the children in Missouri rely on school meals for nutrition.

The USDA recently announced an additional $1.3 billion investment to strengthen local food systems. Woody explained Missouri's SuN Bucks program is based on the federal P-EBT initiative, which aimed to support children who lost access to meals during COVID-19 school closures.

She added her organization and others led a grassroots effort to get Missouri on board.

"Praise the Lord, they agreed to fund and run the program and there's funding to run it again in 2025," Woody emphasized.

The Show-Me State could receive more than $92 million in an economic boost generated from the SuN Bucks initiative.


get more stories like this via email

Five years ago, Minnesota established a program to bolster well-being metrics for children of color and young Native American kids. Today, fund recipients are sharing their progress.

The Community Solutions for Healthy Child Development Grants are in their second round of funding following what advocates called a successful pilot beginning in 2019. Given Minnesota's long-standing racial disparities, community sites making use of the aid hope the kids they serve find stability as they grow.

Brook LaFloe, associate director of the Montessori American Indian Childcare Center in Roseville, said they have been able to do things like hire a social worker, which helps build trust.

"Especially with our people's history with the boarding school era, it still lingers in some of our older generations, right?" LaFloe noted. "That mistrust in school, that mistrust in giving their children up to other people."

LaFloe added her team has maintained full enrollment for key services, including a program catering to children prenatal to 3 years old. Organizations such as Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota pushed for permanent funding after the pilot phase. The state health department said current grants are funded through 2027, but it is unclear what might happen down the road with future deficits forecast.

In northwestern Minnesota, the nonprofit All Nations Rise, which serves tribal members of White Earth Nation, carries out early childhood programming through a cultural lens.

Beth Ann Dodds, program manager for the group, said they have used the grant money to offer an Indigenous parent leadership class.

"They're learning more about themselves, which you need to have -- that self-awareness -- in order to make some positive changes," Dodds observed. "Whether that's with yourself, with that's with your family, or whether that's in your community. "

She added the curriculum has reached nearly two dozen parents, helping more than 70 children.

The grants have also helped fund efforts at Grandmother's House, a language and culture immersion program through Fond du Lac Tribal College in Cloquet.

Persia Erdrich, lead teacher for the program, said she has seen firsthand how outreach connects younger Native people with their tribal identity, aiding them in the development process. She sees the positive effects through her son.

"I started as a parent in this program, and his first words were in Ojibwe, his first sentences," Erdrich recounted. "He's bilingual now."

By Vanessa Davidson / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Ohio Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) in August proposed the STORK Act, which would allow expecting families to claim their unborn children as dependents on their income taxes starting the year the child is conceived.

Click says every dollar makes a difference for expecting families.

"You start planning and preparing ahead of time," he said. "The hospital won't even let you take them home without a car seat. So, you have to get that car seat, you get a crib, you get a bassinet, you get a pack-and-play, and you get all the little toys for a newborn, and you just stock up before they're born to get ready for that child."

However, some raise concern that the proposal could lead toward the recognition of fetal personhood, which could affect abortion rights within Ohio.

Danielle Firsich, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said Click's proposal acts as a continued attempt to attack abortion rights following the passage of Issue 1 in 2023.

Firsich said there have been several other proposals that have tested fences and sought out loopholes to get around state codifications of reproductive rights, including similar bills proposed in Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas and Kentucky.

"We know that this argument - that someone can have tax credits for an unborn child - directly correlates with the concept that if you're receiving some sort of tax benefit, or tax credit, you are thereby able to be recognized as a person and be granted rights as such," Firsich said. "This is a movement that has come, largely, especially after the Dobbs decision."

Given Click's extensive history of pro-life advocacy - with one of his past proposals declaring fetal personhood from conception - Firsich believes the STORK Act could have possible ulterior motives.

Click denied such claims and called such rhetoric an "extremist attack."

"This bill recognizes the expenses that parents put out," said Click. "It doesn't say anything about the baby... this tax credit has no power to overturn a constitutional amendment."

Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who specializes in reproductive rights in Ohio, believes the proposal will have little impact on abortion rights.

"I just don't think that this is something that is going to really, in the end, make a big difference in light of Issue 1 still being there," Hill said. Issue 1 is "part of our constitution, and our constitution is supreme over state law," she added.

However, Hill believes concerns about the proposal aren't baseless. She pointed out that it's not clear whether parents would still be able to receive tax benefits for an unborn child even if the pregnancy isn't carried to term.

Firsich argues that Click should demonstrate his commitment to Ohio families by expanding paid family leave and offering affordable childcare.

"That would mean real change for pregnant people and for parents in the state of Ohio, not something like this," Firsich said.

The STORK Act is currently being reviewed by the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee.


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


get more stories like this via email