More RI Children Don’t Have Health Insurance
Friday, September 17, 2010
The number of children in Rhode Island without health insurance has increased to 18,000, according to U.S. Census data released yesterday by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.
The data shows that the 7.7 percent of Ocean State Children were uninsured during the three-year period from 2007 to 2009, up from 6.4 percent from 2004 to 2006. Rhode Island is now 19th in the country for the number of children under 18 who don’t have health insurance. By comparison, the U.S. rate of uninsured children from 2007 to 2009 was 10.3 percent, according to KIDS COUNT.
Recession Taking Its Toll
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The children’s advocacy group also noted that the number of children receiving health care through their parents’ employers has gone down over the last decade, from 70.5 percent to 64.4 percent. From 2007 to 2009, 150,000 children received insurance through private plans, while 75,000 benefited from government programs, such as RIte Care, Rhode Island’s Medicaid program.
State Safety Net Worked
Beckwith said more children had become uninsured as their parents lost jobs—and the health insurance that came with them. But she said many of those children had been caught in the safety net of RIte Care. Meanwhile, those who are employed, meanwhile, are facing higher health care costs, she said. “So we’re sort of feeling it all over the place,” Beckwith said.
She said there was no silver bullet solution to the problem.
Some provisions of the Obama health care bill are set to take effect next week—but those affect only those children who already have health insurance, according to Beckwith. She said Rhode Island need to maintain its RIte Care program as well as do everything it can to make sure there are more employers in the state offering health insurance.
Over the long-term, she said Rhode Island needs to provide more options for affordable health insurance to families.
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