Tools/Resources


Click on the links below to find out more about children's health coverage. The Campaign for Children's Health Care will be adding more reports and fact sheets to this list, so be sure to check back for new information.

Campaign Resources

Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Who are these children, and why is health insurance important for them? This fact sheet provides the answers. (April 2007)

Why Do School-Aged Children Need Health Insurance? A quick fact sheet on the importance of health coverage for school-aged children. (March 2007)

No Shelter from the Storm: America's Uninsured Children: A report that presents national- and state-level data on uninsured children, including data on minority children. Report (pdf)| Key Findings | Charts (September 2006)

State Fact Sheets: The campaign has produced a set of fact sheets summarizing the number and characteristics of uninsured children in each state, including several interesting illustrations of those numbers. For a specific state fact sheet, click here, then click on the state name in the drop-down menu in the right-hand column. (September 2006)

America's Uninsured Children: Minority Children at Greater Risk: A fact sheet with select state-level data on uninsured minority children. (September 2006)

America's Uninsured Children: A fact sheet with national-level data on uninsured children (July 2006)

Map: The Number of America's Uninsured Children Exceeds the Total Population of Children in These 16 States (July 2006)

National Survey Key Findings (July 2006)

Why Health Insurance Matters for Children: Six good reasons why children should have health insurance (July 2006)

Other Resources

The Basics: This Web site offers fact sheets that discuss “The Basics” of several health care issues related directly to the objective of covering children, including Medicaid financing, Medicaid, and SCHIP. (National Health Policy Forum, June 2006)

Cover California's Kids is a Web site that offers resources on the state of children’s health coverage in California. The reports listed discuss a variety of issues, such as how the erosion of employer-based insurance particularly affects children, and how minority children are more likely to go without insurance. Other briefs offer policy solutions and outreach plans designed to improve access to health care. (Cover California’s Kids, June 2006)

Covering Kids & Families is a nationwide effort focused on reducing the number of eligible, uninsured children and adults through enrollment in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Statewide and local projects employ the strategies of outreach, simplification, and coordination of existing health coverage programs to achieve the goals of the initiative. The Web site includes a policy center, a communications action center, and other resources designed to help increase the enrollment and retention of eligible children and adults in public health coverage programs. (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June 2006)

Facts about Immigrants' Low Use of Health Services and Public Benefits describes the effects of public policies on immigrants' access to Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and food stamps. Citizen children of immigrant parents face many barriers to public health coverage despite being fully eligible for these programs, and their health is adversely affected as a result. (National Immigration Law Center, September 2006).

Health Coverage for Low-Income Children summarizes the sources of coverage and recent coverage trends for low-income children. It concludes that, among other things, Medicaid and SCHIP have greatly reduced the uninsured rate among children, but that low-income children are still at the highest risk of being uninsured. Despite the availability of Medicaid, nearly one-quarter of children in low-income families are uninsured. (Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, September 2004, UPDATE)

Improving Children's Health: Understanding Children's Health Disparities and Promising Approaches to Address Them begins with an overview of health disparities, focusing on the stark racial and ethnic differences in health and how differences in health coverage and income affect those disparities. The report profiles a number of community- and state-based programs as examples of promising approaches to addressing these disparities. (Children's Defense Fund, June 2006) 

Instability of Public Health Insurance Coverage for Children and Their Families: Causes, Consequences and Remedies reviews national and state studies and interviews Medicaid and SCHIP administrators, as well as providers and health plan representatives, in four states that have implemented policies to improve coverage. It finds that coverage instability can largely be averted by adopting key policies and procedures, such as limiting the frequency of required renewals; developing easy, seamless transitions between public coverage programs; and setting affordable limits on premiums. (The Commonwealth Fund, June 2006)

In a Time of Growing Need: State Choices Influence Health Coverage Access for Children and Families is the latest annual 50-state survey of enrollment and eligibility policies in Medicaid and SCHIP. It reveals that 20 states are simplifying enrollment procedures and requirements for beneficiaries and, in some cases, expanding eligibility. Unfortunately, 14 states took action that could impede access to care for children and their parents, and 11 states took steps that made it more difficult for eligible children to secure or retain coverage. (The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 2005)

Medicaid and SCHIP Eligibility for Immigrants provides an overview of the current rules on immigrants’ eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. (The Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2006)

Opening Doorways to Health Care for Children: While Medicaid and SCHIP have reduced the number of uninsured low-income children by one-third in the last decade, more than 8 million children remain uninsured. Seventy percent of these uninsured children are eligible for public health coverage. This report lays out a 10-step plan for creating a series of enrollment “doorways” that make enrollment and renewal of children both routine and timely. (Children's Partnership and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, May 2006)

Quality Health Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs is a handout designed for families, providers, and professionals that defines key elements of quality health care for children with special health care needs. It is based on six principles, including that quality health care should give every child access to primary and specialty care. (Family Voices, Inc., June 2005)

www.statehealthfacts.org provides health care data and resources for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Visitors can research states either individually or in comparison with other states, and tools allow the viewer to easily obtain important information on trends in children’s health coverage. (Kaiser Family Foundation, June 2006)

A Success Story: Closing the Insurance Gap for America's Children through Medicaid and SCHIP finds that, together, Medicaid and SCHIP have reduced the number of uninsured low-income children by one-third, and the programs are cost-effective. However, the report cautions that proposed program changes and cost-cutting measures could reverse these successes. (Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children and Families, July 2005)

Why Do People Lack Health Insurance? examines some of the reasons why uninsured people, including children, lack coverage. It finds that the majority of uninsured children come from low-income families and are eligible for Medicaid and/or SCHIP. (The Urban Institute, May 2006)