Ignorance about federal insurance progams for children is a major reason why minority children have the highest uninsurance rates in the country, according to a new study.
Half of parents with uninsured minority children don’t know their child is eligible for insurance under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to the study published Monday in the International Journal for Equity in Health.
“These uninsured children have suboptimal health, impaired access to care and major unmet needs,” the study said. “The child’s health causes considerable family financial burden, and one in 10 parents ceased work.”
The study looked at 267 children who were uninsured for 14 months. Only 49 percent of the parents were aware their uninsured child was eligible for the federal programs.
About 35 percent of parents had financial problems due to the health costs, with 23 percent cutting work hours to care for the child and 10 percent stopping work altogether.
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, comes as the disparity between uninsured children based on race is growing. The study found that 4.9 percent of white children are uninsured, while 9.6 percent of Latinos and 5.1 percent of African-Americans are uninsured, the study said, citing U.S. census data.
The authors noted that minority children make up 48 percent of the total population of U.S. children.
Reasons children lost insurance include their insurance expired and never reapplied (30 percent), parent was told they were making too much income and didn’t qualify for aid (13 percent), parent changed job (13 percent), and missing paperwork (6 percent).
“The results reveal that broad system issues also impede parents from insuring Medicaid/CHIP-eligible children,” the study said. “One in seven children lost insurance because Medicaid/CHIP representatives incorrectly told parents that their children did not qualify for these programs or parental income was excessive, although all children were Medicaid/CHIP eligible.”
