The NSCH asked parents if their
child currently had any kind of
health insurance, including HMOs or
government plans such as Medicaid.
(In this survey, health insurance
did not include coverage through
the Indian Health Service.)
Overall, over 91 percent of children
have current health insurance coverage.
This rate does not vary substantially
by location: 91.3 percent of
children in urban areas have coverage,
compared to 91.5 percent of children
in large rural areas and 90.3 percent
of children in small rural areas.
In general, rates of coverage
increase with increasing family income.
The rates by location vary slightly
within each income level, although
the pattern is not consistent across
incomes. For instance, children with
family incomes below the Federal
poverty level (FPL) are most likely
to be insured in small rural areas
(88.6 percent) and least likely to be
insured in urban areas (84.4 percent).
Conversely, children with family
incomes of 400 percent of FPL and
above are most likely to be insured
in urban areas (97.4 percent) and
least likely to be insured in small
rural areas (94.2 percent).
With regard to race and ethnicity,
White children, children of multiple
races, and children of other races are
most likely to be insured, followed
closely by Black children; Hispanic
children have the lowest health
insurance coverage rates. As with
income, rates by location vary within
each race, although there is no consistent
pattern across races. Among
White children, insurance rates are
highest in urban areas (95.0 percent)
and lowest in small rural areas (91.5
percent); however, rates among Black
children are highest in small rural
areas (94.8 percent) and approximately
equal in large rural and urban areas
(92.4 and 92.6 percent, respectively).
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