United States Department of Health & Human Services
News Release
Dec. 31, 2002
HHS Issues New Report Showing More American Children Received Health
Insurance in Early 2002
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released a new report showing that the percent of American children with health insurance continued to increase in the first half of 2002, meaning that a half million more children are now covered by insurance than in the previous year.
“More and more children are getting the health care they need, thanks in large measure to our success in working with states to expand health coverage through the SCHIP program,” Secretary Thompson said. “We are giving governors the flexibility they need to continue to expand coverage to more children, and our strategy is paying off for children and parents alike.”
Overall, 14.2 percent of the population — 39.4 million Americans of all ages — was without health insurance coverage in the first half of 2002, about the same as in 2001…
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20021231.html
Comment: Last week we were saturated with stories about the good news that the SCHIP program increased enrollment in the first half of 2002… and it is good news. But the reporters did not seem to venture beyond the press release supplied by HHS. A few more clicks on the website will show why we can have an increase in insurance coverage for children with little net change in the total numbers of uninsured.
The table on which this press release was based shows that the numbers of uninsured under age 18 decreased by 0.6 million, but the numbers of uninsured between 18 and 64 increased by 0.9 million… and that is bad news.
And now that most states are facing draconian cuts in their budgets, public programs such as SCHIP are threatened. With our current national policy proposals, HHS can now begin preparing next year’s hedaline for its “good news” press release: Upper-Income Sector Able to Maintain Insurance Coverage Because of Elimination of Taxes on Dividends.
Table on the number and percent of persons without health insurance coverage, by age group: United States, 1997-2002 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhis/released200212/table01_1.htm