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Children's Health Insurance Coverage
Action for Children works to ensure that all children have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance coverage by advocating for Medicaid, Health Choice and N.C. Kids Care -- public programs that expand children's access to care.
In North Carolina, 264,000 children lack health care coverage—that is enough children to stretch from Greensboro to Wilmington holding hands.
The current health care system is no longer working for many of North Carolina’s children. The state has sustained the second largest decline in employer-provided health insurance in the country, leaving 1-in-8 children without health insurance. If these children joined hands, they would stretch from Greensboro to Wilmington. In 2006, a working group of health care and civic leaders led by Action for Children North Carolina commissioned an actuarial study and recommended the implementation of Carolina Cares for Children, an affordable plan making health insurance available to nearly all uninsured children at an affordable premium rate. Carolina Cares for Children eventually led to N.C. Kids' Care, a plan to expand health insurance coverage to more North Carolina children.
In North Carolina, children in families making less than the federal poverty line ($22,050 for a family of four in 2009/10) are eligible for health care coverage through Medicaid. Children in families making between $22,050 and $44,100 (for a family of four) are eligible for N.C. Health Choice. Children in families making more than 200% of the federal poverty line ($44,100 or more) are not currently eligible for state health care coverage programs.
Legislative Information:
The N.C. General Assembly passed N.C. Kids' Care during the 2007 legislative session. Kids' Care would provide children in families earning up to 300 percent of the FPL ($66,150 in 2009/10 for a family of four) access to affordable health insurance on a sliding premium scale.
The expansion was due to be implemented in July 2008, but lack of federal funding and a limiting Bush administration directive prevented expansion at that time. In 2009, a new Congress reauthorized the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and the President rescinded the previous administration's August 17th directive that was limiting states' ability to cover more children. SCHIP reauthorization and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act meant important federal support for North Carolina's Medicaid and Health Choice programs.
In the 2009 legislative session, the N.C. General Assembly appropriated $17 million to increase the Health Choice rolls by just over 9,000 children -- a great success in the midst of the budget crisis. As the state pulls out of the current recession, Action for Children and partners will be advocating for full funding of Health Choice and implementation of N.C. Kids' Care.
Federal Health Insurance Reform
Action for Children strongly supported federal leaders' efforts to insure all Americans, and we are committed to providing up-to-date information on the implementation of the health reform act. Visit Action for Children's Health Reform 2009 blog for the latest updates.
Also, check out videos of real North Carolinians affected by the health care system, made by our friends at the N.C. Health Access Coalition.
More Information
