A new study released by the Melman School of Public Health at Columbia University suggests that insufficient medical insurance is a special problem for children under commercial insurance.
This study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Health Forum, suggests that coverage gaps also affect children under public insurance.
Using the representative data from the 2016-2021 National Child Health Survey, the researchers analyzed the health insurance data information of children aged 0 to 17 reported by parents or nurses, compared the changes during COVID-19, and determined the inconsistent and insufficient insurance coverage of each insurance type.
They found that in the United States, one-fifth of children do not have sufficient medical insurance. The situation of insufficient insurance coverage is particularly severe among children who have commercial insurance.
According to this study, more work is needed to protect commercial insurance families from the high out of pocket costs of child healthcare and ensure that the welfare network is sufficient to meet the needs of children.