Collateral Damage: Children Can Lose Coverage When Their Parents Lose Health Insurance


 

Publication Date: September 2007

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Leighton Ku

Research Area: Health

Keywords: Economic projections; Health insurance; Economic inequality; Federal budget

Type: Report

Abstract:

A substantial body of research indicates that providing public health insurance coverage to low-income parents is an effective means of improving the enrollment of eligible, but uninsured, low-income children in public programs like Medicaid or SCHIP.  A recent study by Dr. Jennifer DeVoe and her colleagues at Oregon Science and Health University demonstrates that the reverse can also be true: when parents lose health insurance coverage, their children can become uninsured.