A new report by Georgetown University says an estimated 83,000 Missouri children were uninsured in 2018, an increase of about 17 percent since 2016.
The report says the factors are efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid; delays in funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); elimination of the individual mandate penalty; cuts to enrollment outreach and advertising; inadequate oversight over state Medicaid – fear and confusion for immigrant families that discourages them from enrolling eligible children in Medicaid or CHIP.
Kids Win Missouri, representing more than 100 child advocacy groups and agencies, responded to these numbers saying they are “disappointed but not surprised.” Their statement says Missouri has seen almost 100,000 children fall off the Medicaid and CHIP insurance rolls in the past two years, even when many of those children are actually still eligible to receive coverage.
Representative David Wood, R-Versailles, says he is not surprised either, but for other reasons. He is chairman of Missouri House committee keeping tabs on the state’s Medicaid figures. He says the state’s Medicaid enrollment figures are leveling off, like predicted. He has said Missourians dropped off the Medicaid rolls mostly because of a previous Obamacare requirement parents to put their kids on Medicaid.
