Many Uninsured Are Eligible for Aid But Not Enrolled

Summary: There are 47 million uninsured people in the United States. About 12 million of them qualify for public coverage, but are not enrolled, including 64 percent of uninsured children. Many of these people are not aware of programs or don't know how to enroll. For low-income uninsured adults even qualifying for aid can be the greatest hindrance. Only seven states provide public assistance to low-income childless adults, and about half the states deny access to traditional Medicaid benefits for working parents in families above 63 percent of the FPL (about $13,000 for a family of four).

Comment: Many uninsured people living in the United States could only benefit from the expansion of public programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Nancy Chockley, president and CEO of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation commented on the report saying, "What this report shows us is that reaching universal coverage is a very complicated proposition, but that we can get a quarter of the way there by getting more people who are eligible for public programs enrolled, and we can make a lot of headway, too, by looking for subsidies for low-income childless adults and parents."

Read article - Healthfinder.gov. April 25, 2008.