More parents uninsured in states lacking Medicaid expansion
By - States that did not expand Medicaid could be more likely to have uninsured parents, according to a recent Urban Institute survey. The number of uninsured parents living in states that have not expanded Medicaid increased from 50.9 percent in September 2013 to 61.3 percent in March/June 2014.
However, when states accepted federal Medicaid funding, the uninsured rate for parents decreased by 33.3 percent. In June 2014, the uninsured rate for parents in the 25 non-expansion states was 19.0, well above the 10.0 percent rate in the expansion states.
The survey also showed that nationally, between September 2013 and June 2014, the estimated uninsured rate for parents fell 2.4 percentage points from 16.7 percent to 14.3 percent, a drop of 14.4 percent.
Parents included in the Urban Institutes sample are defined as either parents or guardians who are under the age of 64 and live with a dependent child age 17 and under.
“Significant gains in coverage have occurred among parents since the beginning of the first Marketplace open enrollment period in October 2013, especially in the states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the ACA and among the populations targeted by the Medicaid expansion and the new Marketplace subsidies,” the author’s wrote in the survey’s report. “As the ACA moves forward, it will be important to assess (1) whether these coverage gains translate into improvements in access to care, health status, and financial well-being for parents and (2) the extent of positive spillover effects on parents’ children.”
While the study showed larger coverage gains in the states that expanded Medicaid for adults, researchers explained that they cannot definitively attribute those differences to the Medicaid expansion. This is because expansion states differed from non-expansion states in other ways that could affect changes in coverage for parents over the select time period.
“Thus, it will be important to identify and implement policies in the coming months that are successful at expanding enrollment in available coverage options for parents,” the author’s explained. “The findings from the HRMS indicate that many parents who remained uninsured as of March/June 2014 have low levels of educational attainment and may also face language barriers to enrolling in coverage. Such parents will likely require assistance enrolling in coverage and selecting a health insurance plan.”
Reducing the rate of uninsured adults will have positive effects on their children as well, according to the report’s authors. When a parent’s health and financial well-being improves, there could be positive spillover effects for the child.
