5% of Iowa's Children Without Health Insurance

The State Legislature made a goal last session to provide health care insurance to every child in Iowa and it shows from having the 2nd lowest rate of uninsured children of any state.  However, to insure the rest of Iowa's children it looks like they will need help from the federal government.

From Radio Iowa...

A new analysis concludes just over five percent of kids in Iowa are uninsured. "Families U.S.A." executive director Ron Pollack says his group's analysis covers data from 2005, 2006 and 2007, so there are probably more uninsured kids in Iowa today due to this year's economic downturn."

Iowa has the second-lowest rate in the country of uninsured children so Iowa does a lot better than other states across the country," Pollack says, "but it's still no consolation for the 38,000 in the state who are uninsured." Nearly all of the 38,000 uninsured children in Iowa live in a family where at least one parent works full-time, all year long and Mike Owen of the Iowa Policy Project says that's significant."These are children in working families," Owen says. 

"These are children in families that do not have access to health care coverage through their employment."  In March of 2009, the federal government's support of state children's health insurance program will expire and Congressman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, expects the new president to support extending it.