Health insurance coverage of North Carolina children: recent survey estimates

              iStatlstleal
BHef Prepared by the State Center for Health Statistics
For the Council on Health Policy Information August 1996
HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHILDREN - Recent Survey Estimates
According to a recent telephone survey of
North Carolina households, seven percent of
the state 's population ages 0-17 had no
health insurance during the entire year prior
to the sun'ey. Although at variance with
other (higher) estimates,' this percentage is
similar to those obtained in recent telephone
surveys conducted in Arkansas and Wiscon-sin
(unpublished data).
The data of this Briefare from the North
Carolina Health Profile (NCHP) telephone
survey conducted during the Fall of 1995.
The NCHP wasfunded by The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation. Readers should be
aware that all statistics are subject to the
usual limitations of telephone sampling and
respondent classification errors. Respon-dents
were usually the children 's primary
caregivers.
Among its 1994 recommendations, health
insurance reform was a top priority of the
state's Health Planning Commission. The
Commission 's specific recommendations for
insurance reform fell into three areas:
expanding Medicaid to cover more people
with limited resources; reforming insurance
laws to make health insurance coverage more
affordable and portable: and establishing an
on-going system of monitoring the numbers
of uninsured.^
Figure 1
Private Insurance Covers About 7 in 10 Northi
Carolina Children; Medicaid Covers 2 in 10
Percent o( childrer by insurance coverage during past year
Source: North Carolina HeSm Profile. F=all 1995.
Sources of Children's Health Insurance
Figure 1 depicts the reported health insurance coverage of children
during the year prior to the 1995 NCHP. Coverage could have been
for only a short period, while "uninsured" applies to the entire past
year. Thus, at any given point in time, many more than seven percent
of children may have been without health coverage. The percentages
by insurer add to more than 100 because some children had more
than one type of insurance during the past year.
Among the 70 percent of children with private insurance during the
past year, 9 in 10 had insurance through a related household
member's employer or union.
Statistical Brief No. 2
iMiSi. N.C. Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources
N.C. DOCUMENTS
CLEARINGHOUSE
SEP 20 1996
N.C. STATE LIBRARY
RALEIGH