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May is the month we observe national “Cover the Uninsured Week,” and the good news is that in 40 of 50 states, the number of children without health coverage has dropped in recent years.
The bad news is that Minnesota is now among the few states with an increasing number of uninsured children.
Once a national leader in covering children, Minnesota watched as the number of Minnesota children without health care coverage grew from 56,000 to 68,000 between 2001 and 2004, according to the latest state health department data.
Especially troubling is the fact that our youngest children — those under age six — had the largest jump in uninsured rates, growing by 11,000 in just a three-year period.
Having health coverage is a key indicator of child well-being and often determines whether a child gets important checkups and immunizations. Those early formative years, when children develop in many important ways, are crucial to their future success in school and later in life.
Over and over research confirms that every dollar invested in our children’s health care, education and child care is returned to us many times as they become adults. Investing in children’s health coverage is an investment in our future leaders, our business owners and a quality work force.
More immediately, this investment means betters schools, fewer dropouts, less crime, and stronger families and communities.
The far-reaching implications of not reversing this trend should give policymakers more than enough reason to take stock of priorities and redefine how they address this important issue.
A recent Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota report found that the combination of recent state health care cutbacks for children and a decrease in the number of children covered under their parent’s employer have been the main reasons for the rising number of uninsured.
That brings us back to the question of how our current leaders will respond to the fact that the number of uninsured kids in Minnesota is roughly equal to the number of kids in Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Moorhead, Stillwater and Mankato combined.
When deep cuts in health care were made over the past few years, policy makers of all stripes said they were painful, with promises to restore the cutbacks as soon as resources became available.
The resources are now available. Lawmakers could begin to address this problem in the current legislative session, and it wouldn’t require a tax increase — just different choices.
The current Senate supplemental budget bill would use the Health Care Access Fund surplus to allow nearly 4,000 more children to get health care coverage each year and prevent premiums for the MinnesotaCare program from exceeding 10 percent of a family’s income.
This proposal is a step in the right direction.
As we observe national Cover the Uninsured Week, it’s a good time to take stock of our health care priorities right here in Minnesota, especially when it comes to our children.
Policy makers have a chance to reverse the current trend that is harmful to our children and once again return Minnesota to its national position as health care leaders.
Jim Koppel is director of Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota; Julie Brunner is executive director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans; and Erin Murphy is executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association. The three co-chair the Cover All Kids Coalition, a statewide coalition dedicated to expanding health coverage for Minnesota’s children.
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