Latest Trends in Health Insurance

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Consequently, 44 percent of low-income group adults remain uninsured at compared with only 13 percent of moderate- and higher-income adults in the non-insured category. Despite the fact that the United States is spending nearly 0 billion every year on tax incentives for health insurance, 46.6 million people still lack health coverage.

The one redeeming news is children-especially those in low-income families have somewhat gained in insurance coverage. Even with regard to uninsured children, more than 50% of them are eligible for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)-the two public insurance programs responsible for providing coverage to low-income group children.

Established in 1997, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program provides states the authority and funding to expand health insurance coverage to low-income children by broadening Medicaid eligibility, developing new child health programs, or a combination of both.

While Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program has effectively covered low-income group children, the same cannot be said for children in middle-income group families, for whom access to Medicaid and SCHIP is not easily accessible. Yet the unfortunate fact remains that racial and ethnic disparities in children’s health insurance coverage persist, despite all gains.
As public coverage is generally not available to adults, almost 50% of the increase in