Almost half the parents who lack health insurance live in Southern states, according to a new report from the Urban Institute's Health Monitoring Center.
The institute and Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute released two reports this week on how the Affordable Care Act has affected children and parents.
For children, the answer is "not much." The act was designed to expand health-care access for adults; most low-income children are already covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. The study on children found no significant change in insurance rates, though researchers had hoped there might be a "welcome mat effect," with publicity about the act helping impoverished parents who hadn't enrolled their children realize they're eligible for aid.
Parents saw the biggest increases in insurance coverage in the 28 states that have expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults. There, the uninsured have gone from 15 percent of the population in the second quarter of 2013 to 10 percent in the second quarter of this year, the report says. In the states that didn't participate in Medicaid expansion, the rate went from 21.5 percent to 19 percent.
Such large Southern states as North Carolina, Florida and Georgia are among those that didn't expand, which probably explains the disproportionate regional showing. The South accounted for 49.9 percent of the nation's uninsured parents, with the West at 30 percent, Midwest at 12.6 percent and Northeast at 7.5 percent. State data won't be available until next year, the researchers said Tuesday.
Researchers grouped the two studies in the belief that expanding coverage for parents ultimately benefits children, especially if it means parents get treatment for depression and other issues that detract from family well being.
Most uninsured parents described their health as good or excellent, though almost one in three said they had at least two days of "poor mental health" in the past 30 days.
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3 comments:
None of this makes a bit of difference as to what region has the most unisured.
Obamacare is a failure and according to the CBO, 31 million Americans will still be without insurance.
By the way, many of the uninsured are illegals who shouldn't be here in the first place.
The southern border is where a realistic 50-100 million illegals have flooded in under Obama not to mention 80% of the nations 35 million blacks live.
Lets cut the crap also about southern states only being southeastern states. This has always been misleading to say the least.
True meaning of southern states are all states that are southern across the board from east coast to west coast.
Draw a line below the 40th parallel.
Southern states includes all border states including 3/4ths of California. This is where most illegals live and where most blacks live. It is specifically below the 40th parallel.
But dont try to say 100% of all these 3rd world lower class medical bills were not paid before and after this OC crap that is nothing but Obama socialist Marxist redistribution of income to bleed taxpayers but mostly the middle class top to bottom to equalize working people with bums.
Poor peoples medicals and everything else has always been paid by the govt without exception.
Ann,
Health care will continue to rise and continue to be a mess until two things happen.
1. we change the way we view healthcare to better healthy living and not take care of you when you are sick but reward you for being well. Changing public view will decrease diabetes by 90%, heart disease by 50% (the top two reasons healthcare is so expensive).
2. Health care coverage is 100% taken off the employers back and 100% a free market to choose what you want.
Until then enjoy the continue coverage of running in circles, chasing your tail because health care in this country is an absolute mess screwing everyone, wealthy, poor, middleclass.
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