texas KIDS win

CHIP, Medicaid and Other Public Structures Lower the Number of Uninsured in Texas: New Report

The Georgetown Center on Children and Families (CCF) just released a new report showing that in 2008, the number of uninsured children in Texas actually declined thanks to public structures like CHIP and Medicaid. Without these safety nets, Texas would have seen increases in the number of uninsured children driven by falling numbers of employers offering health coverage. The pivotal role played by public health insurance in Texas shows, again, that Texas has the most to gain from national health reform.

"Children's health care advocates have also done a great job of making sure the needs of children were not relegated to the back burner as the Recession unfolded. They worked tirelessly in Washington, D.C. and in state capitols across the country to make sure policymakers couldn't ignore the children. As a result, the lifeline of Medicaid and CHIP were available to uninsured children just when they needed it most.

"Credit also goes to all the families who were willing to publicly share their private pain of facing health care costs without adequate insurance coverage. By sharing their stories, they reminded us that any one of us could face the same situation if one of our children fell ill and our private coverage came up short, we lost our jobs and our access to affordable family coverage or our wages just didn't keep up with the steep increases in our premiums...

"There is...a broader lesson to be learned. ...If the federal government puts its money where its mouth is and state governments cut red tape and focus on serving urgent human needs, children and their families can get the quality, affordable coverage they need."