Facts about All Kids
ON JULY 1: 52,000 CHILDREN will LOSE THEIR HEALTHCARE unless the Legislature and Governor ACT NOW.
- Covering All Kids has resulted in IL having the second best record in the nation for insuring Latino children.
- Covering All Kids generates an enhanced Federal match, resulting in a net cost to the state of less than 0.5% of the $10 billion Medicaid budget ($51 million, ensuring 52,000 children at the VERY low net cost to the State of $1,000 each).
- Covering All Kids was passed with a unanimous bi-partisan vote of 107 to nothing in the IL House 10 years ago, and has enjoyed the support of both Democratic and Republican Governors.
- Substantial federal matching funds will be lost or at risk, if Illinois does not continue Covering All Kids
- SUPPORT HB5736: amending the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act to extend the repeal date from July 1, 2016 to October 1, 2019
Background
The Covering All Kids Health Insurance Act (the Covering All Kids Act) covers 52,000 low-income Illinois children including undocumented children. The program is the result of a bi-partisan policy decision made in Illinois a decade ago and renewed consistently by Democrat and Republican Governors since then, that in Illinois all children are treated equally and have access to health coverage. Covering All Kids ensures that every child has a relationship with a doctor, receives preventive care, early diagnosis and treatment, and the best health outcomes. Under current law, Covering All Kids sunsets July 1, 2016. HB5736 extends the program to October 1, 2019.
Covering All Kids Works
- Covering All Kids improves access to preventive and primary care and protects against communicable diseases making our communities healthier. Publicly insured children report health screenings 28 percent higher than uninsured children. A child with untreated health problems is more likely to experience cognitive, behavioral, or physical disabilities as a child, and to develop future conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes
- Health insurance during childhood reduces mortality rates and results in fewer expensive adult emergency room visits and hospitalizations. African Americans eligible for Medicaid were hospitalized 8 to 13 percent less and visited the emergency room 3 to 4 percent less at age 25.
- Children with health insurance demonstrate positive education outcomes. A 10% increase in children with health insurance leads to a 5 percent decrease in the high school dropout rate and greater than a 3 percent increase in the four-year college attainment rate. Covering undocumented children significantly reduced the share of children who missed any school in a month due to illness (from 43.2% to 35.4%) or missed three or more days of school in the past month due to illness (from 16.0% to 10.9%)
Covering All Kids Strengthens the Illinois Economy
- Children with health insurance earn more income as working adults – for each additional year they were on Medicaid as children, they contributed $186 more in taxes through age 28.
- Reduces or ends the cost of treating uninsured children in hospitals or institutions, especially costs that are avoidable with good preventive care
- Constitutes about half of one percent of Illinois health insurance spending—a small investment while drawing down a $19 million annual federal match that reduce the already modest state cost.
All Kids has had unanimous bipartisan support when it was introduced and passed in 2006, with 107 yeas to 0 nays in the Illinois House. It has had strong bi-partisan support throughout its history. Illinois is a proud leader on the bi-partisan principle that all children should have health coverage. HB 5736 continues that strong tradition.
ON JULY 1: 52,000 low income children will lose health insurance, and substantial federal matching funds will be lost or at risk unless the Legislature and Governor ACT NOW
Yes, I Support All Kids in Illinois!
Submit your information via the form below to add your name to our letter asking Governor Rauner and legislative leaders of Illinois to support the continuation of the All Kids program.
Letter to Governor Rauner and Legislative Leaders
Dear Governor Bruce Rauner and Legislative Leaders,
We write to thank you for supporting the continuation of the All-Kids program and respectfully urge you to ensure that the program – our state’s public health insurance program for low- income children – continue to include all Illinois children, regardless of immigration status, and support House Bill 5736. All Kids is a critical and cost-effective program that provides health insurance to Illinois children. Illinois children have one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation –3.3% – primarily due to the availability of the All Kids Program. In FY 2014, over 1.9 million children in Illinois were enrolled in the larger All Kids Health Insurance program.
The Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act, which provides health insurance to over 52,000 low-income Illinois children must be reauthorized before July 1, 2016 in order maintain vital health care coverage for children and keep our communities healthy. The Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act provides comprehensive, affordable health insurance to all undocumented children and children whose family income is less than $75,840 for a family of four. This coverage provides critical preventative services including immunizations that keep children and their parents, schools and communities healthy. We urge you to support pending legislation that will change the repeal date from July 1, 2016 to October 1, 2019.
Children enrolled in The Covering ALL KIDS Act comprise only 2% of enrollees in the All Kids Program but are a critical group that cannot obtain coverage elsewhere due to the unavailability or cost of employer dependent coverage or ineligibility for Medicaid or Marketplace coverage due to immigration status.
Nationally, children zero to five constitute 19 percent of Medicaid enrollees, however they only account for 8 percent of Medicaid spending. In Illinois, children zero to eighteen comprise 57 percent of the overall Medicaid program but account for just 26 percent of the total cost. Children covered in The Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act comprise a small fraction of the total cost of the overall HFS budget.
The Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act, as part of the larger All Kids program, is a proven program with a history of bipartisan support that provides children with health care they need to stay healthy and succeed. Covering All Kids provides quality health care so that children can thrive and reach their greatest potential.
Children’s Access to All Kids Health Insurance benefits our entire State. Access to health insurance and care is an essential part of improved individual and population health.
- Medicaid has been linked to broad quality of life improvements for immigrant families by providing access to preventative and primary care, health education and connecting eligible immigrants to social services.
- Health insurance prevents major financial crises for individuals and families.
- A national study found that 62 percent of all consumer bankruptcies in 2007 involved medical debt.
- Insurance coverage also reduces expensive, inefficient and unnecessary emergency department visits for non-emergency healthcare.
All Kids promotes higher educational attainment. A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Medicaid expansions have positively affected educational attainment. A 10 percentage point increase in average Medicaid eligibility for children led to a 5 percent decrease in the high school dropout rate and greater than a 3 percent increase in the four-year college attainment rate.
We urge you to support House Bill 5736.
Sincerely,