Fewer Children Had Health Insurance In 2018 Than Year Before, Census Data Shows

Nearly half a million more children were uninsured in 2018 than in 2017, according to data out Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau. The drop stems primarily from a decline in the number of children covered by public programs such programs as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

For decades, getting more children to have health insurance was a cause with strong bipartisan support, and the uninsured rate has steadily declined. Now that trend is reversing. For the second year in a row, there was an uptick — 5.5% of children under age 19 did not have health insurance last year.

“It’s a very smart investment to make sure that kids get Medicaid when they need it,” says Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which has been tracking the decline in enrollment for the main health care safety net programs for children. “And that’s exactly the opposite of what’s happening today.”