Getting back on track: a detailed look at health coverage trends for Latino children
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Whitener, Kelly, author Corcoran, Alexandra, author
- Contributor(s):
- Georgetown University. Center for Children and Families. issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children and Families, June 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Child Health Hispanic or Latino Medicaid Medically Uninsured United States State Children's Health Insurance Program (U.S.)
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- From 2008 to 2016, the Latino child uninsured rate fell steadily, eventually achieving a historic low of 7.7 percent in 2016. Although this rate was still higher than that for non-Latino children, the decline signaled steady progress towards narrowing health coverage disparities between Latino children and their peers. However, as the overall child uninsured rate started going in the wrong direction between 2016 and 2019, Latino children were disproportionately affected.2 Erasing years of progress, Latino children’s uninsured rate reached 9.3 percent in 2019. This 1.6 percentage point increase was more than twice as fast as the 0.7 percentage point increase for non-Latino youth (from 3.7 percent in 2016 to 4.4 percent in 2019). At the national level, the Trump administration publicized and implemented the “public charge” rule, which penalized adults for using public programs prior to gaining citizenship. Even though 95 percent of Latino children are citizens and not subject to public charge, many Latino families avoided enrolling their children in Medicaid or CHIP out of fear of adverse immigration consequences, known as the “chilling effect.” Federal cuts to funding for outreach efforts and health insurance navigators who could help explain the nuances of the public charge rule and remind families of the affordable coverage options available to them only exacerbated the problem. Moreover, repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and ongoing court battles have left many families uncertain about the availability of public coverage. At the state level, red tape barriers, such as frequent income reviews between renewal periods, closure of applications without screening eligibility for other assistance programs, and unreasonably quick turnaround deadlines for information requests made getting and keeping coverage harder for families. As of 2019, there were approximately 1.83 million uninsured Latino children in the nation, an increase of 354,400 children compared to 2016. This report takes a closer look at who these children are.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (19 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918334382006676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918334382006676