A report released earlier this week by the Urban Institute’s Health Reform Monitoring Survey found that the rate of uninsured children age 17 and under in the United States remains low, about 7.3 percent, and has changed very little since last fall.
The Urban Institute's HRMS has tracked the uninsured rate for children, among other groups, since last September, right before the first Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act open enrollment period began.
While the national rate of uninsured children remains basically unchanged, the rate varies from state to state. States with the most uninsured children, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, include:
- Nevada — 20 percent
- Texas — 16 percent
- Alaska — 14 percent
- Arizona — 14 percent
- Florida — 14 percent
- New Mexico — 13 percent
- Georgia — 12 percent
- South Carolina — 12 percent
- Montana — 12 percent
- Idaho — 11 percent
States with the least uninsured children include:
- Massachusetts — 3 percent
- Hawaii — 4 percent
- Vermont — 5 percent
- Michigan — 5 percent
- Connecticut — 5 percent
- Maine — 5 percent
- North Dakota — 5 percent
- Iowa — 6 percent
- Wisconsin — 6 percent
- Virginia — 6 percent
Kaiser's data on health coverage includes children up to 18 years old and is based on estimates from the Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Census Bureau's March 2012 and 2013 Current Population Survey.