America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007
Health Insurance Coverage
Children with health insurance, whether public or private, are more likely than children without insurance to have a regular and accessible source of health care. The percentage of children who have health insurance coverage for at least part of the year is one measure of the extent to which families can obtain preventive care or health care for a sick or injured child.
Indicator HC1: Percentage of children ages 0–17 covered by health insurance by type of health insurance, 1987–2005
NOTE: Public health insurance for children consists primarily of Medicaid, but also includes Medicare, SCHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Programs), and CHAMPUS/Tricare, the health benefit program for members of the armed forces and their dependents. Estimates beginning in 1999 include follow-up questions to verify health insurance status. Estimates for 1999 through 2005 are not directly comparable with earlier years, before the verification questions were added. Due to revision of the 2004 and 2005 data, estimates for these years are not comparable to estimates from 2003 and earlier. Children are considered to be covered by health insurance if they had public or private coverage any time during the year.
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tables based on analyses from the Current Population Survey, 1988 to 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplements.
- In 2005, 89 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, down from 90 percent in 2004.
- The number of children who had no health insurance at any time during 2005 was 8.1 million (11 percent of all children).
- Hispanic children are less likely to have health insurance than White, non-Hispanic or Black children. In 2005, 79 percent of Hispanic children were covered by health insurance, compared with 93 percent of White, non-Hispanic children and 88 percent of Black children.3
- The type of insurance varies by the age of the child: public health insurance is more prevalent among younger children, while private health insurance is more common among older children.
- Due to revision of the 2004 and 2005 data, estimates for these years are not comparable to estimates from 2003 and earlier.45
- The proportion of children covered by private health insurance decreased from 74 percent in 1987 to 66 percent in 1994, increased to 70 percent in 1999, and then dropped to 66 percent in 2003.46 The proportion of children covered by public health insurance grew from 19 percent in 1987 to 27 percent in 1993. Public health insurance decreased until 1999, and then began to climb again to 29 percent in 2003.47
- In 2005, 66 percent of children were covered by private health insurance and 30 percent were covered by public health insurance.
3 Federal surveys now give respondents the option of reporting more than one race. Therefore, two basic ways of defining a race group are possible. A group such as Black may be defined as those who reported Black and no other race (the race-alone or single-race concept) or as those who reported Black regardless of whether they also reported another race (the race-alone-or-in-combination concept). This report shows data using the first approach (race alone). Use of the single-race population does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. The Census Bureau uses a variety of approaches. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected separately. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
45 The 2004 data have been revised to reflect a correction in the weights in the 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The 2004 and 2005 estimates reflect a modification to the process that assigns coverage to non-policy holders. Based on these changes, estimates for these years are not comparable to estimates from 2003 and earlier. For more information see: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/usernote/schedule.html.
46 The proportion of children covered by private health insurance in 1994 is not significantly different than the proportion in 2003.
47 The percentages of children covered by public and private insurance do not add up to the percentage of all children covered by health insurance because some children have both public and private insurance.