12k Ohio children lost health insurance in past two years, study finds

Nearly 12,000 more infants, toddlers and preschoolers in Ohio were without coverage in 2018 than two years earlier, new analysis has found (Source: “Cause for alarm: Thousands more Ohio children have lost health insurance,” Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 6, 2020).

Ohio’s uninsured rate for infants, toddlers and preschoolers climbed to 5% in 2018 from 3.6% in 2016, a 40% jump that ranked as third-highest in the nation. Ohio had 41,642 children without health coverage, an increase of nearly 12,000 in two years, according to a recent study by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

Uninsured children who are injured or ill can get care at hospitals, which are required by law to provide emergency treatment to anyone regardless of insurance coverage, but the children probably are missing out on regular visits to a pediatrician and dentist.

“These well-child visits and other preventive care are the first and best opportunity we have to engage parents and caregivers as partners in their child’s health and well-being before school begins,” said Melissa Wervey Arnold, chief executive officer of the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.