A new report shows Pennsylvania is seeing its highest number of uninsured children in a decade.
The report examines the state of children’s health insurance, and finds more than 153,000 kids are without coverage in Pennsylvania. The increase is troubling, as it comes at the same time major federal policy shifts threaten to further limit families’ access to health care.
Becky Ludwick, vice president for public policy at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said they don’t yet know why the number of uninsured kids has risen, but the figures do show which groups of children are most likely to lack insurance.
“Hispanic children have seen a pretty large increase in the number of uninsured, as well as children who are living in families with lower resources or lower incomes,” she said. “There’s a pretty widening gap that we’re seeing in terms of children who have insurance based off of their family income.”