According to the Louisiana Budget Project, the state saw a 28 percent increase in uninsured children from 2018 to 2019. Policy Director Stacey Roussel says 50,000 Louisiana children went into the pandemic without health insurance, and that number is expected to rise.
“Due to the number of job losses parents who have been covering their kids through employer-provided health insurance have definitely taken a hit,” said Roussel.
2019’s number of 50,000 total uninsured kids was up 11,000 from 2018.
Roussel says the data doesn’t explain why but does show the biggest losses in insured rates were from children in low-income families, families using public healthcare programs, and specifically in East Baton Rouge and Bossier Parishes.
Louisiana’s child uninsured rate rose to 4.4 percent in 2019, still below the national average of 5.7 percent.
Roussel says many of the children who are going without insurance qualify for a range of federal and state programs and getting those kids into those programs is the focus moving forward.
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