Uninsured rate for Ohio children continues sharp decline, report finds

A new national report from Georgetown University has gound that nearly 95 percent of Ohio children have health coverage, with the uninsured rate dropped by half in the past 15 years (Source: “In Ohio, 95% of kids have health-insurance coverage,” Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 20, 2013).

Ohio’s percentage of children with coverage is 2 points above the national average, according to a report released today by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which credits the publically funded State Children’s Health Insurance Program with driving down the number of uninsured children.

In Ohio, more than 20,000 children gained coverage between 2000 and 2012, leaving an estimated 140,000 children younger than 19 uninsured. Of those, more than 70 percent are eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP, known in Ohio as Healthy Start.