Table 2.
Demographic Characteristics of US Children with at Least One Insured Parent, According to the Child’s Health Insurance Status (2002-2005)
| CROSS-SECTIONAL PARENT(S) INSURED a | PARENT(S) INSURED ALL YEAR b | ALL FAMILIES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic And Other Characteristics | Child Uninsured | Child Insured | Child Insured All Year | Child Uninsured Part or All Year (Coverage Gap) | Child Uninsured All Year | All Children |
| No. Sampled (respondents)* | 1,380 | 27,528 | 24,208 | 1,716 | 653 | 39,170 |
|
| ||||||
| Estimated No. of children in US population, millions** | 2.4 | 55.7 | 50.6 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 72.1 |
|
| ||||||
| Weighted Percentage*** | ||||||
|
| ||||||
| Income Groups†1,2,3 | ||||||
| Poor(<100%FPL) | 12.9 | 13.2 | 11.6 | 13.7 | 9.6 | 16.6 |
| Near Poor (100-<125%FPL) | 5.2 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 5.4 |
| Low Income (125-<200%FPL) | 21.9 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 21.7 | 16.9 | 15.8 |
| Middle Income (200-<400%FPL) | 38.3 | 35.7 | 36.3 | 39.0 | 44.5 | 33.5 |
| High Income (≥400%FPL) | 21.7 | 33.9 | 36.4 | 20.0 | 25.4 | 28.7 |
| Child’s Age1,2 | ||||||
| 0-4 | 18.7 | 22.6 | 21.8 | 22.8 | 19.2 | 22.7 |
| 5-9 | 25.0 | 26.8 | 26.8 | 23.4 | 22.6 | 26.9 |
| 10-14 | 27.5 | 28.6 | 28.9 | 26.8 | 32.6 | 28.3 |
| 15-18 | 28.8 | 22.1 | 22.5 | 27.0 | 25.6 | 22.1 |
| Child’s Race/Ethnicity‡ 1,2,3 | ||||||
| Hispanic, any Race | 24.7 | 14.2 | 13.2 | 24.3 | 24.9 | 19.0 |
| White, non-Hispanic | 54.3 | 64.3 | 65.8 | 53.6 | 56.7 | 59.6 |
| Non-White, non-Hispanic | 21.0 | 21.5 | 21.1 | 22.0 | 18.4 | 21.5 |
| At Least One Parent Completed High School1,2,3 | 80.3 | 88.1 | 89.3 | 79.2 | 80.1 | 83.6 |
| At Least One Parent Employed | 84.8 | 81.7 | 82.4 | 82.7 | 85.8 | 79.3 |
| Living with a single parent$ 1,2,3 | 39.9 | 25.3 | 23.5 | 39.7 | 39.2 | 29.0 |
| Geographic Residence1,2 | ||||||
| Northeast | 13.8 | 20.0 | 20.8 | 14.5 | 15.7 | 17.8 |
| Midwest | 18.8 | 24.0 | 24.3 | 20.3 | 23.5 | 22.2 |
| South | 39.5 | 32.6 | 31.8 | 38.7 | 32.7 | 35.8 |
| West | 27.9 | 23.4 | 23.2 | 26.5 | 28.1 | 24.3 |
| Child Health Status Excellent1,2 | 44.7 | 49.8 | 50.4 | 45.1 | 48.1 | 48.1 |
| Parent(s) Health Insurance Type (if insured) | ||||||
| Any Private | 86.7 | 85.7 | 87.5 | 87.0 | 88.4 | 84.2 |
| Public Only | 13.4 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 13.0 | 11.6 | 15.8 |
Source: 2002-2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Household Component
For children with two parents linked, one or both parents had insurance coverage on December 31 of the given year; for children with one parent linked, the sole parent had insurance coverage on December 31 of the given year.
For children with two parents linked, one or both parents had insurance coverage for all 12 months of the given year; for children with one parent linked, the sole parent had insurance coverage for all 12 months of the given year.
Unweighted counts represent the total number of children from MEPS respondent households with a positive person weight who could be linked to a parent within the household.
Weighted estimates represent the average yearly weighted population of US children, in millions. Each child record from the MEPS was weighted according to person-level weights provided by the data-collection agency.
Each child record from the MEPS was weighted according to person-level weights provided by the data-collection agency.
p<0.05 in the χ2 analysis for overall differences between demographic subgroups in cross-sectional analyses, comparing children uninsured to children insured on December 31st.
p<0.05 in the χ2 analysis for overall differences between demographic subgroups in full-year analyses, comparing children uninsured part or all of the year (coverage gap) to children insured all year.
p<0.05 in the χ2 analysis for overall differences between demographic subgroups in full year analyses, comparing children uninsured all year to children insured all year.
FPL=Federal Poverty Level; in 2005 the FPL for a family of 4 was $19,350.
Child’s race/ethnicity variable was created by combining a race (RACEX) and ethnicity (HISPANX) variable. RACEX categories included white only, black only, American Indian/Alaskan Native only, Asian only, native Hawaiian/pacific islander only, and multiple races. HISPANX categories included Hispanic, or not Hispanic.
The single-parent family composition variable combined children who could be linked to a second parent (n=8,278) and children who could not be linked to a second parent (5,431). The other category included children who could be linked with two married parents (n=26,001).
Note: Column percentages = 100% (not all are exact because rounded to nearest tenth)