Two Responses To A Premium Hike In A Program For Uninsured Kids: 4 In 5 Families Stay In As Enrollment Shrinks By A Fifth

Moving Toward Inclusion: Access to Care Models for Uninsured Immigrant Children

Policy Points Models for access to care for uninsured immigrant children that mitigate structural and sociopolitical barriers to inclusive health care include funding structures (e.g., state-sponsored coverage) and care delivery systems (e.g., federally qualified health centers,). Although the quintessential model of access to care necessitates health coverage for all children regardless of immigration status or date of United States entry, incremental policy change may more realistically and efficiently advance equitable access to high-quality health care. Intentional advocacy efforts should prioritize achievable goals that are grounded in data, are attentive to the sociopolitical milieu, are inclusive of diverse perspectives, and would meaningfully impact health care access and outcomes.

California's Health4All Kids Expansion And Health Insurance Coverage Among Low-Income Noncitizen Children

More than one-third of US children receive coverage through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but undocumented immigrant children are not eligible for public coverage in most states. California's May 2016 Health4All Kids coverage expansion allowed children with qualifying household incomes to enroll in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid and CHIP program, regardless of their immigration status. We examined the effects of California's expansion on noncitizen children's uninsurance rates and sources of coverage, using data from the 2012-18 American Community Survey. California's expansion was associated with significant increases of about 9 and 12 percentage points in any coverage and public coverage, respectively. The estimated increase in any coverage translates to a 34 percent decline in the uninsurance rate relative to the preexpansion rate among noncitizen children (26 percent). Counties with an existing program to reduce children's uninsurance rates experienced an increase in coverage earlier than those without a program in effect before the statewide expansion.

Medicaid and CHIP Premiums and Access to Care: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Premiums are required in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in many states. Effects of premiums are raised in policy debates.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to review effects of premiums on children's coverage and access.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed was used to search academic literature from 1995 to 2014.

STUDY SELECTION

Two reviewers initially screened studies by using abstracts and titles, and 1 additional reviewer screened proposed studies. Included studies focused on publicly insured children, evaluated premium changes in at least 1 state/local program, and used longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional data with pre/postchange measures.

DATA EXTRACTION

We identified 263 studies of which 17 met inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

Four studies examined population-level coverage effects by using national survey data, 11 studies examined trends in disenrollment and reenrollment by using administrative data, and 2 studies measured additional outcomes. No eligible studies evaluated health status effects. Increases in premiums were associated with increased disenrollment rates in 7 studies that permitted comparison. Larger premium increases and stringent enforcement tended to have larger effects on disenrollment. At a population level, premiums reduce public insurance enrollment and may increase the uninsured rate for lower-income children. Little is known about effects of premiums on spending or access to care, but 1 study reveals premiums are unlikely to yield substantial revenue.

LIMITATIONS

Effect sizes were difficult to compare across studies with administrative data.

CONCLUSIONS

Public insurance premiums often increase disenrollment from public insurance and may have unintended consequences on overall coverage for low-income children.