Across Virginia, 9.6 percent of children were uninsured in a recent period, according to a study released Tuesday. That was slightly better than the national rate of 11 percent.
The study, produced by Families USA, drew on census statistics from 2005 through 2007. The nonprofit organization that advocates for health consumers predicts the economic downturn has probably already worsened those numbers.
In Virginia, there were 184,000 uninsured children during the study period, which ranked it 12th in the nation in raw numbers. The state ranked 21st in the country in the percentage of uninsured children.
Texas had both the highest number and rate of uninsured children, at 1.4 million children, or 20.5 percent of children in that state.
The report, "Left Behind: America's Uninsured Children," found that one in nine children in the United States was uninsured, the majority in working families.
Across the country, about 27 percent of children were insured by Medicaid, the state-federal insurance for low-income families and people with disabilities. In Virginia, that percentage was less, at 18.1 percent. However, children covered by other types of public insurance was higher in Virginia than the norm, at 11.3 percent.
Eighty-eight percent of uninsured Virginia children lived in households in which at least one parent worked, and 70 percent had at least one parent working on a full-time basis.
Those numbers track the national trend.
Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com
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Ed
Ed, are you serious or independently wealthy? "Why would anyone want to take out a life insurance policy on a child???"
And I agree with some previous posters-we've got moms and dads who gripe about the cost of health insurance among other things---but they're going to sure have a great Christmas on credit cards...forget keeping the kids healthy or dont worry about when its time for a costly procedure..you've got ME (working full time parent with working full time spouse/parent) to suck up your bills!
Ed, a term policy on a child
Ed, a term policy on a child can be a real help once the child is older. My parents purchased a term policy when I was 1 yr old for $10/month fixed for my life. The policy is now worth well over $30,000 and I still only pay $10/month and it will continue to go up in value.
On another note, this will not matter once Obama is president. All children will have health insurance. The one thing I do not understand is that he supports killing babies, but once the babies make it to a couple of weeks old their health insurance becomes mandatory?
A couple reasons
Why would anyone want to take out a life insurance policy on a child???
There's a couple reason to get a universal life policy. The big one is you can get guaranteed future insurability if they should get a serious disease later in life when there's a family that needs support. The other is they can get zero interest loans against the cash value. It's kind of savings account with insurance attached.
re: Make it mandatory
ILikeSnacks wrote:
>>>Make medical mandatory in order to drive a car. It's amazing how many people manage to afford car insurance when there's a motivation.<<<
Huh? Yeah, right...
Have you priced medical insurance lately [obviously not]? My family plan costs nearly $16,000 a year.
Mary,
Why would anyone want to take out a life insurance policy on a child???
Insurance
Ms. Simpson, there is more than one type of insurance and some, for example, life insurance, apply to children, too. I wasn't sure you meant health insurance in this article until I read way down. 'Course you probably want me to do that, but could you be clearer next time? Cheers, MGM
We know many on FAMIS
and it doesn't seem too difficult to qualify for. One family just built a 4,000 sq ft house and all of their kids are on FAMIS. Between Medicaid and FAMIS, I have a hard time believing the numbers are that high. It seems to me that to a large degree, people find money to spend on what they deem important.
Make it mandatory
Make medical mandatory in order to drive a car. It's amazing how many people manage to afford car insurance when there's a motivation. My favorite was someone griping to me at a bar they won't get medical coverage because their company charged them $30/week for it. Then the bill came for $45.
Can't afford universal healthcare for children
The article simply describes them as "children" not American Citizen children--there's a big difference because we taxpayers shouldn't be paying for illegal alien children. Hawaii, a relatively wealthy state, tried universal healthcare for children and had to completely scrap the program after only 7 months because they couldn't pay for it. The collapse of the program was totally unrelated to the current economic downturn--it was because people who previously had health insurance for their children switched to the Hawaii State plan which was free. That broke the bank there and it will break the bank in every other state, too.