As part of its work helping secure quality health care for kids, the Packard Foundation’s Children Families and Communities program supports the Center for Children and Families (CCF) at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. CCF has issued this eighth annual report as part of its continued monitoring of the state of uninsured children across the nation. Unfortunately, this 2018 report outlines a troubling analysis of the latest trends in children’s health insurance coverage: the number of uninsured children spiked significantly in 2017 for the first time in a decade, with about 276,000 more children uninsured, bringing the new total to 3.9 million kids without health insurance. The report points to national currents like battles over health care legislation causing lapses in funding, as well as states not expanding Medicaid as some of the reasons for this new lack of coverage, and warns that decisionmakers must bring policies back on track to avoid further backsliding.
