400,000 More Children Are Uninsured Since Trump Took Office

Trump failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but he's been abusing his power to sabotage the law, and today there are 400,000 more uninsured children.

The number of uninsured children ballooned by more than 400,000 between 2016 and 2018, an unprecedented decline in health coverage for the youngest Americans, a new study has found.

Roughly 4.1 million children were uninsured in 2018, up from a low of 3.6 million in 2016.... Their uninsured rate jumped to 5.2% last year, up from 4.7% in 2016.

Repeat this over and over: Republicans are taking away healthcare from children.  That's not hyperbole.  It's the absolute truth and it is deadly. 

Several factors have contributed to the bump in uninsured rates for children, the center says. They include: efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid, delays in funding the Children's Health Insurance Plan, the effective elimination of the individual mandate penalty, cuts to Affordable Care Act enrollment outreach and advertising and an increase in state-based eligibility checks for Medicaid.

The trend is particularly troubling because it comes during a period of economic growth when more Americans are gaining employment.... more children will lose coverage if the economy falters.  Much of the gains in children's coverage that came about as a result of the Affordable Care Act have now been reversed.

If Trump wins a second term, it'll be millions more.

The Affordable Care Act helped improve children's coverage rates by increasing the likelihood that children would be enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP when their parents obtained insurance, simplifying enrollment, funding outreach efforts....  

The coverage loss was greatest among white children and Latino children and for kids under age 6.  Also, children in families between 138% and 250% of the federal poverty level -- or about $29,000 to $50,000 for a family of three -- saw big declines. The majority of uninsured children qualify for either Medicaid or CHIP but are not enrolled.

A larger share of higher-income children are also uninsured, likely because of rising premiums in employer-sponsored coverage....

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/us-children-health-insurance/index.html