Report details state’s number of uninsured children

CARSON CITY -- Nevada ranks fifth nationally in its percentage of children without health insurance, according to a report released Wednesday by advocacy group Families USA.

The report, based on U.S. Census Bureau data for 2005 through 2007, said 107,000 children, about 16 percent of the total in the state, are without insurance. Families USA noted the time frame excludes the worsening economy in 2008.

Most of the uninsured children in Nevada come from families where at least one parent works and about two-thirds live in homes where at least one family member works full time, year-round. More than half come from low-income families.

Ron Pollack of Families USA said President Bush vetoed a bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program and that program, called Nevada Check Up in this state, will end in March. Nearly 42,000 children were covered under Nevada Check Up in 2007.

Pollack said it's important to expand SCHIP rather than stop the program. He added that because of the current economic slowdown Congress might provide higher federal matching funds to states for Medicaid. He said that would help states to retain and expand health coverage as more families become uninsured.

SCHIP provides coverage to about 6.6 million people in the United States, the vast majority of them children in working families that make too much to be eligible for Medicaid but who cannot afford insurance.

Congress tried to more than double SCHIP spending last year to about $12 billion annually, but Bush vetoed it twice. He said the bills would move too many children from private health insurance to government-sponsored coverage.

Families USA is a national nonprofit dedicated to achieving affordable health care for all Americans.