Youth

This summary is intended to assist professionals who work in systems serving children, such as juvenile justice and child welfare. For more information about Medicaid and its key concepts as they relate to the juvenile justice system, see A Medicaid Primer for Juvenile Justice Officials. As of January 2008, 1,007,188 adults and children were covered under Louisiana’s Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Louisiana operates its SCHIP program as an expansion of Medicaid. There were 891,451 people enrolled in the Medicaid program and 115,737 children enrolled in SCHIP.  In federal fiscal year 2005, approximately $5.3 billion was spent for Medicaid services in Louisiana, and an additional $126 million was spent for SCHIP services. (These figures include spending for both adults and children.) The federal government supplied 71 percent of the funding for Medicaid and 80 percent of the funding for SCHIP.

This summary is intended to assist professionals who work in systems serving children, such as juvenile justice and child welfare. For more information about Medicaid and its key concepts as they relate to the juvenile justice system, see A Medicaid Primer for Juvenile Justice Officials. Illinois integrates operation of its State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with Medicaid funded and state-only programs. As of December 2006, there were 1,873,000 adults and children enrolled in the Medicaid program, and as of June 2007 there were 175,145 children enrolled in SCHIP. In federal fiscal year 2005, Illinois made approximately $10.8 billion in Medicaid expenditures and $494 million in SCHIP expenditures. (These figures include spending for both adults and children.) The federal government supplied 50 percent of the funding for Medicaid expenditures and 65 percent for SCHIP expenditures.  

This State Health Policy Monitor gives an overview of the key features of state laws designed to expand dependent coverage options for young adults. Policy makers are becoming aware that young adults are the fastest growing group of uninsured in America. In fact, they are more likely to be uninsured than any other age group. Nearly one-third (30 percent) of young adults ages 19-29 are uninsured. From 2004 to 2005, the number of uninsured adults ages 19-29 increased from 12.9 million to 13.3 million – an increase that accounted for 30 percent of the growth in the number of uninsured Americans under the age of 65 during this period.

In March 2006, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) convened a small invitational symposium on child health coverage. This brief summarizes key suggestions which emerged during the symposium discussion about lessons learned over the past decade of state efforts to increase rates of child health coverage. Participants in the symposium reviewed and discussed recent progress and remaining barriers for states in reducing numbers of uninsured children and youth. Participants also generated and discussed ideas about restructuring child health coverage to move closer to a goal of covering all children and youth continuously.