Thursday, September 15, 2016
For More Information Contact:
Kimberley Chin
kchin@childrensdefense.org
(212) 697-0168
New York, N.Y. – Children’s Defense Fund-New York Executive Director Naomi Post issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of state data showing that in 2015 103,643 children in New York have no health insurance, and 33,882 children gained health coverage. New York ranks fourth among states for having the lowest percent of uninsured children (2.5 percent), but ranks as ninth highest among states for the number of uninsured children only behind Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.
“Today’s health insurance numbers show progress toward our goal for every child in New York to have access to affordable, high-quality health and mental health coverage. Since 2009, the number of uninsured children in New York has been cut by more than half. We cannot be complacent, we need to finish the job and close the gap between our children who have and those who have not. The majority (70,953) of the uninsured children in New York are expected in school this year. Many of them are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
CDF and AASA, The School Superintendent’s Association, are offering the “Insure All Children” toolkit with an easy, cost-effective way for districts across our state to engage in school-based health enrollment through routine procedures. It begins with a simple question.
We are grateful for New York’s good policies that include the highest income eligibility level for Medicaid and CHIP in the country offering affordable coverage to children living in families up to 405 percent of the federal poverty line and coverage to all children regardless of their immigration status. New York can and must finish the job and lead the nation in healthy children. The evidence is all in: children with access to health coverage do better in school, are more likely to graduate, and are healthier and earn more as adults. Let’s take action together to benefit not only our children today but to build a stronger economy for New York tomorrow.”
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The Children’s Defense Fund-New York Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.