The Census Bureau recently released data reporting on how many children are going without health insurance coverage.  Texas, Nevada and Arizona were the top three states for uninsured children rates according to the article “Health Coverage for Arizona Children Among Lowest in Nation” by Max Levy on Cronkitenewsonline.com.

About one in eight children age 17 and under, or just over 12%, was uninsured in 2010 raising a lot of concerns for the state of Arizona.  The national rate was only 8% so there is a significant difference there and this makes Arizona and the other two states stand out.  Arizona health care for children is lacking and there is an opportunity for the state to make some strides.

One state official did point out there Arizona has a higher number of undocumented immigrant children who are ineligible for most health insurance coverage policies, causing their uninsured rate to be higher.  Child health advocates in Arizona still want to see this number come down significantly for the sake of the children.  With more people losing their jobs with this recession, they are losing health insurance for their families as well.  Private health insurance for a family can be extremely expensive and for those who are unemployed it seems next to impossible to have adequate coverage.

Arizona does offer a state program called KidsCare which is available for eligible children whose families earned a certain level below poverty, but unfortunately, enrollment in this plan was frozen in January of 2010 due to budget cuts.  This is hurting the state overall as the waiting list for this program is unmanageable at 120,000 children.

Written by Sam Tabes

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