{"id":289,"date":"2026-06-01T22:38:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=289"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:38:04","slug":"uninsured-rate-for-young-children-at-highest-level-in-nearly-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=289","title":{"rendered":"Uninsured rate for young children at highest level in nearly a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The share of young children in the U.S. under age 6 who were uninsured increased 23% between 2022 and 2024, according to a new report from Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Children and Families. The report released on Monday found that 220,000 additional babies, toddlers and preschoolers were uninsured in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available.<\/p>

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Texas, North Dakota, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Arkansas, Florida, and Oklahoma have the highest rates of uninsured children under 6 nationwide.<\/p>\n

North Carolina\u2019s uninsured rate for children in this age group was 4.2% in 2024, below the 5.3% national average. The state had 30,800 children who were uninsured, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families and a research professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy, says North Carolina made two decisions during the Cooper administration that benefited thousands of children who would have otherwise lost coverage.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\nAlker says after the COVID-19 pandemic when states were \u201cunwinding\u201d Medicaid continuous enrollment, North Carolina moved slowly and deliberately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were also one of two states in the country \u2014 North Carolina and Kentucky \u2014 that put a longer hold on their disenrollment for children,\u201d said Alker. \u201cGoing fast was really a risky approach, like Idaho took, but going very, very slowly and taking the time to do it right was something that North Carolina and Kentucky did, and that was a good choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elisabeth Wright Burak, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and a lead author of the report, says North Carolina was also one of just a handful of states that applied to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for a 1115 waiver, allowing for continuous coverage for children up to age 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore it sunsets in a few years, we\u2019re hopeful that it will protect a lot of young children in North Carolina,\u201d said Burak. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal law requires that all states provide children at least 12 months of continuous coverage under Medicaid and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program.<\/p>

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Alker said North Carolina\u2019s decision to formally expand Medicaid in December 2023 also provided a \u201cwelcome mat\u201d effect, with newly eligible adults seeking healthcare coverage for their children as well.<\/p>\n

But Alker worries that nationally, the numbers are now moving in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

Two million fewer children are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP since Trump took office, said Alker.\u00a0 When child enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP goes down, the uninsured rate for children goes up.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Budget Office recently that the number of children covered by Medicaid will decline by 3 million over the next decade as cuts from H.R. 1 \u2013 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act \u2013 take effect.<\/p>\n

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