HARRISBURG, Pa. — The number of kids who do not have health insurance is increasing, according to a report by the Pennsylvania Partnership for Children. The information comes from census data and is documented from 2021 - 2022.
Experts say they’re predicting these numbers will get worse before it gets better.
“It’s really important for children to have health insurance, especially for preventative care, and the data shows an unexpected increase in uninsured children,” Becky Ludwick, Public Policy Vice President at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said.
The five counties with the highest number of uninsured children are:
- Lancaster County, at 22,100 (these high numbers are likely driven by that community’s large Amish population, which generally refuses insurance);
- Philadelphia, 16,700;
- Chester County, 8,400;
- Lebanon County, 7,200; and
- Allegheny County, 5,800
The five counties where rates of uninsured children went up the most from 2021 to 2022:
- Lebanon County, with an increase of 11.13%;
- Crawford County, 5.43%;
- Carbon County, 5.04%;
- Northumberland County, 4.8%; and
- Dauphin County, 4.79%.
The report also shows that younger kids are more likely to be without health insurance.
Ludwick said from 2021 to 2022, 19,000 children did not have health insurance, bringing the state total to 145,000. Ludick says there are several reasons why the rates of children without insurance are increasing, but one contributing factor may be private health insurance.
“One of the things we saw is that the data was that the rate for children who have private health insurance actually went down, and so an example might be a family who had coverage through a parent employer might have lost that coverage,” said Ludwick.
Data also shows the number of children enrolling in public health insurance has not increased, therefore showing that families may not know help is available or are having difficulties enrolling in those programs.
“When we look at the report, we saw an increase in the number of children who are eligible for Medicaid but are just not enrolled in the program,” said Ludwick.
The 2021-2022 report is a year behind, and the 2023 report won’t come out until fall 2024. Experts say that the report will look worse than this year, because in 2023, pandemic-era programs expired. However, several policies that start in 2024 may help bring the number of children without health insurance down.
Continuous coverage for Pennsylvania Medicaid and CHIP recipients requires all states to provide 12-month continuous eligibility to children under the age of 19. This policy went into effect on Jan 1.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services also issued a waiver to issue continuous coverage for young kids. This will include those who are infants up until they’re six years old. This would also help make sure there are no gaps in children's coverage. This policy has not been passed but is something Pennsylvania DHS is pursuing.
Click the Medicaid or CHIP link above to enroll your child in the programs. If you need help walking through the application process, reach out to the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children here.