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Report: Number of Uninsured KY Children Jumped by 29%

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Monday, October 12, 2020   

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- An estimated 45,000 Kentucky children were uninsured last year, according to a new report released by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which found the state's rate of uninsured kids jumped by nearly 29% between 2016 and 2019.

Executive director at Kentucky Voices for Health, Emily Beauregard, said despite a strong economy and job growth during this three year period, many Kentuckians still lacked access to health coverage. And research has shown when parents are covered, their kids are more likely to be covered as well.

"And at the same time, Kentuckians are in low-wage jobs without access to benefits, or without affordable benefits that they can enroll their families in," Beauregard said. "What that means is, most of these children are eligible for Medicaid and KCHIP, and they're just not enrolled."

KCHIP is the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program. Beauregard said red-tape barriers to enrollment in KCHIP and Medicaid need to be removed. She also believes boosting outreach and education efforts in rural communities is critical to helping parents sign up their kids.

Beauregard said the trend should be a red flag, given that the data was collected before the coronavirus pandemic led to skyrocketing layoffs and shrinking household incomes.

"The fact that we are reversing this positive trend that we've been on should be troubling to our policymakers," she said. "And we really need to make sure that families know what their options are and that they have help enrolling their kids in coverage."

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said the number of uninsured children has increased every year of the Trump administration. The largest jump was between 2018 and 2019.

"What's so troubling is that, you know, we've had years and years of progress as a country, in a bipartisan way, to reduce the number of uninsured children. And what we see now is, that trend has clearly turned around since President Trump took office," Alker said. "And we're going backwards at an accelerating rate.""

She added the Trump administration's hostile rhetoric toward immigrants and the renewed public charge rule - scrutinizing green card applicants receiving public benefits - are likely contributing to the increase. In 2019 in the Commonwealth, Hispanic children made up more than 9% of uninsured kids.

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.


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