There are 1.4 million uninsured children in Texas — more than one in every five children in the state — and the problem is growing worse, according to a report released Wednesday by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers.
The figures place Texas first among the nation’s states for the number of uninsured children and first for the percentage of children without health insurance.
The report, based on new Census Bureau data for 2005-07, shows the state’s number of uninsured children was growing even before this year’s worsening economic situation.
Research for the report, titled “Left Behind: Texas’ Uninsured Children,” found:
• 1.4 million Texas children (20.5 percent of the state’s total) are uninsured;
• The number of uninsured children increased by almost 33,400 between the three-year period 2003-05 and the period 2005-07;
• 89.5 percent of the uninsured children come from families where at least one parent works, and 73.9 percent live in households where at least one family member works full time, year-round;
• 65.7 percent come from low-income families (families with incomes below twice the poverty level, or $35,200 for a family of three in 2008) who are likely eligible for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program; and
• In 2007, an estimated 710,700 Texas children received their health coverage through CHIP, which is scheduled to expire March 31.
Last year, Congress voted to reauthorize CHIP, which would have expanded health coverage throughout the nation to approximately 4 million uninsured children, but the legislation failed when President Bush vetoed it.
“For the numerous children in Texas who count on CHIP as their health lifeline, and for the 1.4 million uninsured children in the state, support for continuing and expanding CHIP is critically important,” said Ron Pollack, Families USA’s executive director.
“The provision of increased federal matching funds to the states for Medicaid is of growing importance. States need to expand health coverage at a time when their budgets are increasingly precarious, so increased federal help is essential.”
The Families USA report is available online at http:/www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/uninsured-kids-2008/texas.pdf.
