More kids getting covered under Obamacare

While the healthcare law didn’t specifically expand coverage to more children, many of its provisions have the effect of ensuring more kids get insurance by providing it to their parents. Those provisions include private, subsidized plans sold through the state-based marketplaces and Medicaid expansion, which has been accepted by about 30 states.

The expansions have resulted in the lowest uninsured rate among U.S. children since the Census Bureau started tracking coverage in 2008. Some states with the largest populations of kids without coverage also have seen the largest improvements in the uninsured rate, including in California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. And the largest coverage gains were among minority and low-income kids.

Kids with private coverage increased by 0.4 percentage points in 2014, to 59.2 percent, while those enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program increased by 0.8 percentage points to 34.5 percent.

Yet the uninsured rate among kids varies dramatically depending on where they live. In three states — Alaska, Texas and Arizona — more than 10 percent of children lack coverage, while in two states, Vermont and Massachusetts, fewer than 2 percent of kids are uninsured.

“This report provides an important baseline for measuring kids’ coverage under the [Affordable Care Act] across states,” said Lynn Blewett, director of the University of Minnesota’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center, which compiled the report. “It’s likely the case that more children gained coverage as eligible parents signed up for free or low-cost health insurance, and we’re likely to see that trend continue.”