Affordable Care Act Reforms Will Help
As a county, we are beating the odds. Despite an increasing number of children living in poverty and a decline in employer-sponsored insurance, the number of children growing up without health insurance has declined since 2009 by almost one million. This success is due in large part to our commitment to programs like Medicaid and BadgerCare, which have successfully increased access to health care for children and families in Wisconsin and around the country.
A new report and video overview from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families shows us that although the number of children living without health care is declining nationally, where children live has a significant impact on their access to health insurance.
In Wisconsin, the success of BadgerCare has kept us above the average national rate of children’s coverage; we currently rank 11th best. However, 4.4% of our kids remain uninsured, which amounts to 58,236 children. Picture it – that’s four-fifths of the seats at Lambeau Field filled with uninsured Wisconsin children. Wisconsin needs to continue to make progress covering our kids, and reforms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will help.
The star state in coverage is Massachusetts, where only 1.7% of children are uninsured, because they have implemented similar reforms to the ACA. Other states have also made significant progress, and many have done so more quickly than Wisconsin over the last year or two. We have slipped to the middle of the pack when you compare our change in number and precent uninsured kids from 2009 to 2011, so though we still have a relatively low rate of uninsured children, our progress is starting to slow.
Now is the time to finish the job. Through implementation of health care reform we have remarkable resources to ensure children receive the care they need. Next year will be a watershed year, and the decisions Wisconsin makes will determine whether our state continues to make progress in improving access to health care, or whether we are willing to accept that more than half a million Wisconsinites are uninsured and often don’t have access to preventive health care services.
Sara Eskrich and Jon Peacock
