WASHINGTON – About 47 percent of parents in families earning less than $40,000 a year are offered health insurance through their employers – a 9 percent drop during the past decade.
The figure underscores concern that low-income parents are experiencing a dramatic erosion in employee benefits, said the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research.
The research also indicated that about 9 million children in the U.S. are still uninsured – about one in eight children, the report said – even though about two-thirds of them potentially could participate in existing government programs if only their parents would enroll them.
States with the highest percentage of uninsured children were Texas, 20.3 percent; Florida, 16.9 percent; and New Mexico, 16.6 percent.
States with the lowest rate of uninsured children were Vermont, 5.6 percent; New Hampshire, 6 percent; and Michigan, 6.1 percent.
The foundation says the research also shows the importance of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has been in effect for a decade. One of the biggest debates in Congress this year will be over how much funding to set aside for the program, which now covers about 6 million children.
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