Reaching out for help: Texas children with least health insurance coverage

Texas continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in children's health, ranking last in the percentage of uninsured children and 44th in childhood poverty rates, according to a new report.

Local health advocates said that the Rio Grande Valley faces even higher rates of children without health insurance or access to adequate medical care than the state does.

The report, released by the nonprofit organization Texans Care for Children, ranks Texas on a variety of children's health indicators, such as teen pregnancies, infant death rates, child immunizations, childhood obesity rates, Medicaid enrollment and access to doc tors.

In many of these areas, Texas' performance was poor, said Eileen Garcia-Matthews, executive director of Texans Care for Children.

"A lot of these indicators were disappointing and concerning," Garcia-Matthews said.

The organization drew from a variety of sources to determine the rankings, including data from the U.S. Census, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report says.

According to the report, Texas has ranked 50th in the percentage of children who have no health insurance for most of the last seven years. As of 2007, 21 percent of Texas children under 18 were uninsured.

The problem is worse in the Valley, according to figures from the Children's Defense Fund of the Rio Grande Valley. About 23 percent of Valley children are uninsured and potentially eligible for Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program coverage, but many are still not enrolled, advocates said.

Enrollment workers have made significant strides in signing up Valley children for Children's Health Insurance Program. After a four-year decline in CHIP enrollment, the numbers started to rise in 2007 and are now up to 36,000 for the four-county region, said Luisa Saenz, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund.

Some Texas children, however, are falling off the Medicaid rolls, Saenz said. About 37,000 Valley children lost Medicaid coverage in the last year, she said.

"There's no concrete answer from the state as to why the numbers are dropping," Saenz said.

Many families might be dropped from Medicaid because they have to re-enroll every six months, and the paperwork can be cumbersome, she said.

According to state statistics, the number of Texas children enrolled in Medicaid has increased slightly in the last year, from 1.83 million in January 2008 to 1.86 million in December. But some advocates are concerned that children aren't consistently enrolled in an insurance program, which might mean they don't receive consistent medical care.

"We're going to raise unhealthy children who won't be able to learn, and there goes your workforce," Saenz said. "If we don't start off by investing in their health, it will lead to more problems."

Texans Care for Children is calling for the Texas Legislature to increase the children's Medicaid enrollment period to 12 months, reduce the Medicaid waiting list for children with disabilities, require physical education in elementary school and streamline the CHIP and Medicaid enrollment process.

Among states, Texas ranked... (1 is best, 50 is worst)

50th in percentage of children with health insurance in 2006.

50th in percentage of adults with a high school diploma in 2006.

49th in teen births in 2005.

44th in children living in poverty in 2007.

41st in child vaccinations in 2006.

21st in infant mortality in 2005.

Out of every...

Three children that should have graduated from high school in 2006, one did not.

Four children, one was poor in 2007.

Five children, one lacked health insurance in 2006.

Twelve newborns, one was born with a low birth weight in 2006.

(Source: Texans Care for Children Report)

On the Web:

Texans Care for Children Report:

http://www.texanscareforchildren.org/files/ChildrensCampaignFINAL2009.pdf