Many Latino children fall through the cracks in the health care system – Missouri (SCHIP related)

“Though Guadalupe and her family live in Sedalia, the disparity between siblings in the mixed-status families is typical for Latinos across the country, contributing to Latino children being the least insured segment of the U.S. population.

As the question of reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is played out under the bright lights of Washington’s political battlefields, the gap in coverage for Latino families and their children continues to widen. One in five Latino children is still uninsured. Though they account for only 18 percent of the population under 18, Latinos account for almost 35 percent of America’s 9 million uninsured children. And, of the nearly 3 million uninsured Latino children in America, 70 percent are eligible for SCHIP coverage but do not apply. Language barriers and fear of attracting the notice of the government are contributing factors.

SCHIP was created in 1997 to help low-income families insure their children. For the last 10 years, the federal government has provided $40 billion through SCHIP for states to expand coverage of uninsured kids. According to a January report from the Kaiser Commission for the Uninsured, it has worked: The number of uninsured children in the U.S. has dropped by one third since 1997.”*

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