Coverage Counts: Kids, Medicaid & CHIP

Yeah, so it's impossible to overstate the importance of Medicaid.

Medicaid and CHIP are covering nearly half of the children in this country and over 40% of the births.

In some states, it's more than half of the births.

So if you just think about that, you walk past a playground and you see a bunch of kids playing there, about half of them their births, their childhood.

They have health insurance because of Medicaid and CHIP.

And I want to underscore something really important about that that people often overlook.

Obviously, 50% just jumps out at you as a huge statistic.

But you also have to remember who those kids are.

They are, in many cases, kids growing up in poverty.

who have a host of other challenges, right? Lead in their water, malnutrition.

Maybe they have seen gun violence in their community.

Their guardians may have very low health literacy.

So Medicaid isn't just taking care of a randomly selected cohort of 50% of the kids in this country.

These are often kids to have major life challenges that translate into major developmental or health challenges.

Medicaid is filling an incredibly challenging void and is very specially designed to do that.

The long-term impact of Medicaid and CHIP can be felt in our society as these kids become adults.

I don't think I need to explain to most medical providers that if children have health care, they will live healthier.

They'll be more likely to overcome developmental delay or have better controlled asthma, better management of behavioral health conditions, higher quality of life.

But for kids, what people sometimes forget, that also translates into school readiness.

With Medicaid, you get higher high school graduation rates.

Kids are more likely to graduate on time.

They're more likely to enroll in college, more likely to graduate from college.

And so that means that we end up with a generation of adults that is fully prepared to be our future doctors and our future engineers and our future leaders.

So it's just so, so, so important.

Yeah, so it's impossible to overstate the importance of Medicaid.

Medicaid and CHIP are covering nearly half of the children in this country and over 40% of the births.

In some states, it's more than half of the births.

So if you just think about that, you walk past a playground and you see a bunch of kids playing there, about half of them their births, their childhood.

They have health insurance because of Medicaid and CHIP.

And I want to underscore something really important about that that people often overlook.

Obviously, 50% just jumps out at you as a huge statistic.

But you also have to remember who those kids are.

They are, in many cases, kids growing up in poverty.

who have a host of other challenges, right? Lead in their water, malnutrition.

Maybe they have seen gun violence in their community.

Their guardians may have very low health literacy.

So Medicaid isn't just taking care of a randomly selected cohort of 50% of the kids in this country.

These are often kids to have major life challenges that translate into major developmental or health challenges.

Medicaid is filling an incredibly challenging void and is very specially designed to do that.

The long-term impact of Medicaid and CHIP can be felt in our society as these kids become adults.

I don't think I need to explain to most medical providers that if children have health care, they will live healthier.

They'll be more likely to overcome developmental delay or have better controlled asthma, better management of behavioral health conditions, higher quality of life.

But for kids, what people sometimes forget, that also translates into school readiness.

With Medicaid, you get higher high school graduation rates.

Kids are more likely to graduate on time.

They're more likely to enroll in college, more likely to graduate from college.

And so that means that we end up with a generation of adults that is fully prepared to be our future doctors and our future engineers and our future leaders.

So it's just so, so, so important.