Children's HealthWatch

Health Insurance

The high costs of health care are a constant burden on patients, especially low-income families with children.  Of families surveyed by Children’s HealthWatch, 11.6% of the children have private insurance, 83.6% have public insurance, and 4.8% do not have insurance.  The vast majority of children in the Children’s HealthWatch dataset have insurance, however, changes in Medicaid regulations have made it possible for states to charge doctor visit and prescription co-pays to families who previously did not pay for these services or paid a much reduced rate. Through examining the effects of health insurance status, premium and copayment costs, and household expense trade-offs due to health care costs on children’s health and development, we hope to shed light on the impact of these changes in the health care reform debate.