Children's Health Insurance Fact Sheet
December 12, 2008: This recently updated fact sheet from Kaiser Foundation examines the role of Medicaid and SCHIP in children's health insurance coverage, which play a crucial part in covering low income children. View the fact sheet here.

8.6 Million Children in America are Uninsured
November 25, 2008: Advocates at Families USA have released a report entitled Left Behind: America's Uninsured Children. The report, based on recent Census Bureau data, finds that one in nine american children are uninsured, and that number does not reflect the worsening economic situation in 2008. Families USA also found that the majority of uninsured children come from working families, and over half come from two-parent families. View full text of the report here along with the press release.

 Celebrating Rhode Island Children's Health
November 17, 2008: Over 100 community leaders gathered November 17, 2008 for the eighth annual Celebration of Children's Health, to celebrate the progress the state has made in achieving positive health outcomes for Rhode Island's children. View the event powerpoint, photo gallery, and  press release here.

Children's Health Coverage is Almost There
October 27, 2008: Read the recently released report: Almost There: Covering the Remaining Uninsured Children in Rhode Island. According to the report, while fewer children in RI (6.9%) are uninsured than the national average (11.0%), there is more work to be done.With a number of small policy changes, RI can provide all children with the health coverage they need for healthy child development. View the executive summary and  press release.

Congress Will Not Vote on SCHIP Bill This Session
September 12, 2008- Funding for the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which helps to ensure that low income children have access to affordable, quality medical care (which partially supports Rhode Island's RIte Care/ RIte Share programs) was extended last year until March 31, 2009. Rhode Island and 42 other states will come up short in funding if SCHIP is not extended beyond that date. Lawmakers have just announced that SCHIP will not be reauthorized in the upcoming session, which means the process of extending or reauthorizing SCHIP will not be started until at least January 2009 under a new administratino. Many children's health advocated view SCHIP reauthorization as an essential step toward broader helath care reform. View a recent report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families (CCF) on what it could mean for states if SCHIP is not reauthorized.

Rhode Island is seeking a Global Medicaid Waiver from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Global Medicaid Waiver would include all Medicaid populations and services in one waiver, ending the existing RIte Care waiver, long-term care waivers and other separate waivers.Read the paper "Rhode Island's Medicaid Proposal Would Put Beneficiaries At Risk and Undermine The Federal-State Partnership Could Set Dangerous Precedent for Other States" by Judith Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy

New Data Show Increase Uninsured Children
August 26, 2008 - According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, 6.9% of Rhode Island children were uninsured in the three year period from 2005-2007, compared with 6.4% of children 2004-2006. Rhode Island ranks 11th in the nation for children's health insurance coverage. View the press release, and the data tables on children's health insurance coverage , prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.

Read Cindy Mann's statement  which applauds the decrease in the number of uninsured children in the United States, and calls for further improvement. Mann is the Executive Director of Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

Children With Health Insurance Get Needed Care, While Uninsured Children Go Without
August 14, 2008- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released the report A Needed Lifeline: Chronically Ill Children and Public Health Insurance. The report shows that among chronically ill children (such as those with asthma or diabetes), having health insurance makes an enormous difference in whether children recieve the care they need. View the press release, download the report, or view an interactive map with state-by-state data.