health care financing

In 2004, 8.3 million children younger than 18 years of age had no health insurance coverage; this represents 11.2 percent of the child population. Almost 30 percent of children were publicly insured by sources such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Children’s insurance status varies by a number of factors, including family income and race and ethnicity. Non-Hispanic White children had high rates of private insurance coverage in 2004 (77.3 percent), while fewer than half of Black and Hispanic children had private coverage during the same period (48.0 and 42.9 percent, respectively). Black children were the most likely to have public coverage (48.0 percent), while Hispanic children were the most likely to be uninsured (21.1 percent). Rates of private coverage rise and rates of public coverage and no coverage fall with increasing family income. Children with family incomes below 100 percent of the poverty level were the most likely to have public coverage (66.8 percent) or be uninsured (19.4 percent), while they were the least likely to have private coverage (20.2 percent); the majority (85.7 percent) of children with family incomes of 200 percent of the poverty level or more were privately insured.

In 1997, SCHIP was created in response to the growing number of uninsured children in lowincome working families. In 2004, over 6 million children were enrolled in SCHIP. Although designed to cover children with family incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level, many States have expanded eligibility to children with higher family incomes.

> Bar Chart: Health Insurance Coverage Among Children Under Age 18, by Race/Ethnicity and Type of Coverage: 2004

> Bar Chart: Health Insurance Coverage Among Children Under Age 18, by Poverty Level and Type of Coverage: 2004