Why Coverage Is Important

• Uninsured children admitted to the ER are 60% more likely to die than insured children.[1]
• Approximately 1.5 million children were uninsured in California for part or all of the year in 2009.[2]
• More than half of all uninsured children are eligible for either Healthy Families or Medi-Cal, yet they are not enrolled.[3]
• Nationwide, the number of uninsured children in the US is growing by nearly 2,000 children a day.[4]
• California ranks 43rd out of 50 states on the percentage of children who are uninsured.[5]
• A November 2006 poll commissioned by United Ways of California found that 81% of voters support ensuring that all kids have health insurance.[6]
• In California, Latinos are nearly 3 times as likely as whites to be uninsured.[7]
• Young Black and Latino children are twice as likely to be uninsured as white children.[8]
• California’s Children’s Health Initiatives provide health coverage to the uninsured, and save millions of taxpayer dollars.[9]
• Children with health insurance learn better – for instance, children covered by Healthy Families showed 63% improvement in paying attention and keeping up with school activities over their previous performance when uninsured.[10]
• When low-income enrollment increased in Massachusetts by 27.6%, the number of hospital uncompensated care patients accounts decreased by 27.7%.[11]
• There are only 46 primary care providers for each 100,000 Medi-Cal recipients in California; the federal minimum standard is 60-80 providers per 100,000 enrollees.[12]
• Children with continuous health coverage are cheap to treat. Medi-Cal costs for children averaged $5.9 million in the six months before a gap in coverage, but more than double to $13.5 million in the first month after the gap, when children are sicker.[13]
• When Medi-Cal stopped requiring children to re-enroll every three months, more children began to receive continuous health coverage. Due to better access to primary and preventive care, the state accrued $17 million in savings because children were hospitalized less frequently.[14]
• Pregnant women with poor oral health are 7 times more likely to have a premature and/or low birth weight delivery.[15]
• Across the country, approximately a quarter of Hispanics and blacks had a dental visit during the year, compared to almost half of whites.[16]
• Public coverage program eligibility based on the federal poverty level (FPL) does not include the impact of California’s high cost-of-living. A family at 250% FPL in San Francisco has a lower standard of living than a family at 150% in Atlanta.[17]
• California is 42nd out of 51 (including DC) in terms of employer-based coverage for children.[18]
• Research has shown that increasing premiums by 1% in Healthy Families would depress enrollment by 15%.[19]
• In an August 2008 survey, 22% of consumers said that economy-related woes were causing them to go to the doctor less often. About 11% said they've scaled back on prescription drugs to save money.[20]
• The vast majority if uninsured children are in working families. 88% of uninsured children have at least one working parent.[21]
• California spends about $40 million a year re-enrolling children who are unnecessarily dropped from Medi-Cal. Streamlined enrollment processes could virtually eliminate this waste.[22]
• The Federal government‘s total investment spending for children in 2006 was 1.6% of GDP; that piece of the pie is projected to decline by as much as 29%.[23]
• Between 2000 and 2007, family health care premiums in California rose by 95.8 percent while median earnings went up only 19.3 percent.[24]
• Between 2000 and 2007, family health coverage premiums provided through workplaces in California rose from $6,227 to $12,194, an increase of $5,967.[25]

 

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[1] Fizan Abdullah et al; October 2009; ‘Analysis of 23 million US hospitalizations: uninsured children have higher all-cause in-hospitality mortality;’ Journal of Public Health; pp. 1-9.

[2] Lavaredda SA, Brown ER, Cabezas L and Roby DH. ‘Number of Uninsured Jumped to More Than Eight Million from 2007 to 2009.’ Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Healthy Policy Research, 2010.

[3] 2007 California Health Interview Survey, University of California Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research, www.chis.ucla.edu.

[4] February 7, 2008 Memorandum, Georgetown Center for Children and Families; http://ccf.georgetown.edu/index/cms-filesystem-action?file=ccf%20publications/federal%20schip%20policy/ccffy2009%20budget%20schip%20memo.pdf.

[5] September, 2006, No Shelter From the Storm: America’s Uninsured Children; Families USA; http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/childrens-health/campaign/publications/no-shelter-from-the-storm.html.

[6] 2006, ‘Get the Facts,’ Cover California’s Kids Coalition; http://www.covercaliforniaskids.org/facts.php

[7] 2007, Snapshot: California’s Uninsured; California HealthCare Foundation; http://www.chcf.org/documents/insurance/SnapshotUninsured07.pdf.

[8] March 1, 2008, National Summit on America’s Children; U.S. House of Representatives; http://www.speaker.gov/pdf/CS3108.pdf.

[9] Michael R. Cousineau, et al.; December, 2007; ‘Covering California’s Kids Evaluation: Children’s Health Initiatives Have Helped Prevent Over 1,000 Unnecessary Child Hospitalizations Annually,’ Center for Community Health Studies, University of Southern California; http://communityhealth.usc.edu/USC%20Center%20for%20Community%20Health%20Studies/Center%20for%20Community %20Health%20Studies%20at%20USC_files/Preventable%20Hospitalizations%20Brief.%2012-7.pdf.

[10] Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, “The Healthy Families Program Health Status Assessment (PedsQLTM) Final Report,” Revised September 2004; http://www.mrmib.ca.gov/MRMIB/HFP/PedsQL3.pdf

[11] February 13, 2008, Massachusetts Hospital Association; Hospital Uncompensated Care Trends & Health Care Reform; http://www.mhalink.org/freecareanalysis/08-02-12 MHA ANALYSIS uncompensated care trends.doc

[12] May 2007, ‘Medi-Cal Facts and Figures: A Look at California’s Medicaid Program,’ California HealthCare Foundation; http://www.chcf.org/documents/policy/MediCalFactsAndFigures2007.pdf.

[13] Gerry Fairbrother and Joseph Schuchter, March 2008; ‘Stability and Churning in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families,’ The California Endowment; http://www.calendow.org/uploadedFiles/Stability%20%20Chrurning%20Report.pdf.

[14] Andrew Bindman, et. al.; October, 2008; ‘Medicaid Re-Enrollment Policies and Children's Risk of Hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions,’ The Commonwealth Fund;

[15] Children Now Facts & Figures; see http://www.childrennow.org/issues/health/oral_health.html.

[16] Laurie E. Felland, et. al.; July, 2008; ‘Community Efforts to Expand Dental Services for Low-Income People,’ Center for Studying Health System Change, Issue Brief No. 122; see http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/1000/1000.pdf.

[17] Harbage et. al.; July, 2007; ‘The Future of California’s SCHIP Program: Analyzing the Proposed Federal Legislation,’ California HealthCare Foundation; see http://www.100percentcampaign.org/assets/pdf/fs-080506.pdf.

[18] US Census Bureau; Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State – Children Under 18: 1999 to 2007; see http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/historic/index.html.

[19] April 15, 2008 Memorandum, Georgetown Center for Children and Families; http://www.100percentcampaign.org/assets/pdf/fs-080415.pdf.

[20] National Association of Insurance Commissioners News Release, August 12, 2008; ‘Weakening U.S. Economy Takes Toll on Americans’ Health: New Research Reveals Consumers Reducing Medical Visits to Save Money;’ http://www.naic.org/Releases/2008_docs/economy_health_toll.htm.

[21] September, 2006, No Shelter From the Storm: America’s Uninsured Children; Families USA; http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/childrens-health/campaign/publications/no-shelter-from-the-storm.html.

[22] Gerry Fairbrother, April, 2005; ‘How Much Does Churning in Medi-Cal Cost?’  The California Endowment; http://www.calendow.org/uploadedFiles/churning_medical.pdf.

[23] C. Eugene Steuerle et. al.; November, 2007; ‘Investing in America’s Children;’ Partnership for America’s Success; http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org/uploads/200801_UrbanPaperFINAL.pdf.

[24] September, 2008; ‘Premiums Versus Paychecks: A Growing Burden for California’s Workers;’ Families USA; http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/premiums-vs-paychecks-2008/california.pdf.

[25] Ibid.

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