Study: Texas rate of uninsured children double national average

Texas has double the national rate of uninsured children and the numbers are climbing after years of declines, according to a new national study./Blend Images Texas has double the national rate of uninsured children and the numbers are climbing after years of declines, according to a new national study./Blend Images Photo: LWA/Dann Tardif/Getty Images/Blend Images RM Photo: LWA/Dann Tardif/Getty Images/Blend Images RM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Study: Texas rate of uninsured children double national average 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Texas led the nation in both the number and percentage of uninsured children in 2017, more than doubling the national rate, according to national findings released Wednesday.

More troubling is that the percentage of Texas children without health coverage is on the rise, growing to 10.7 percent in 2017 from 9.8 percent the previous year.

That translates to 833,178 children without coverage. Texas vastly outnumbered other states as Florida had the second highest overall number at 320,913.

Sparsely populated Wyoming had the next highest percentage of uninsured children in 2017 at 10 percent.

"We're very concerned that the state is not taking this seriously enough," said Patrick Bresette, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund of Texas on Wednesday, calling the findings "disturbing."

"In a state that has more uninsured children than any other we are short-cutting their development is so many ways," he said.

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Nationally, the percentage of uninsured children was about 5 percent, or about 3.9 million children, the study found. That number is also on the rise, jumping from about 3.6 million in 2016.

The annual study, using U.S. Census data, was a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a national health philanthropy, and the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

What concerns both the researchers and children's advocacy groups is that after nearly a decade of improvement, the numbers are starting to go the wrong way again, said Elizabeth Lukanen, deputy director of the Minnesota program.

She added that early indications show that 2018 numbers may be even worse.

"Research has shown that uninsured children have fewer physician visits, less health maintenance for chronic conditions such as asthma, and not surprisingly these things have broader implications for children's future," Lukanen said.

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Compared to children whose families have health coverage, children's whose families have health coverage are less likely to miss school, more likely to have better overall academic success which ultimately translates into future economic success, she said other research has shown.

One noteworthy finding is that even as the economy improves, the number of Texas children in families with employer-sponsored health plans has remained mostly unchanged across income levels.

Further analysis of the Texas numbers showed that the rate of uninsured children was double the national average across several criteria, including Hispanic families, those with low-incomes, and children whose parents have lower levels of education.

Texas also continues to lead the nation in the number and rate of uninsured adults, and that number, too, is rising again after making steady gains.

Overall, an estimated 4.7 million Texans are without coverage, according to health care data. After falling to a little over 16 percent uninsured in 2016, more recent estimates show the rate has more recently climbed to around 19 percent, health economists have said.

"There's so much more we could be doing that we just aren't," said Bresette of the Children's Defense Fund.