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District Leads Nation in Rate of Uninsured Children, Wards 6 and 8 Boast Lowest Uninsured Rates in City
Washington, DC – A new study released today by the Urban Institute (UI) shows a nearly 50 percent reduction in the District’s uninsured rate during Councilmember David Catania’s (At-Large) leadership as Chairman of the Council’s Committee on Health. This remarkable decline in the rate of uninsured residents living in the District occurred during a period when the uninsured rates in Maryland and Virginia, as well as the average for the nation, stayed constant. The District now has the second lowest uninsured rate in the country (6.2 percent), trailing only Massachusetts (5.5 percent).
The UI study also showed that the District is now tied for the lead for the lowest rate of uninsured children. During Catania’s time as Health Committee Chair, the percent of uninsured children in the District has dropped from 6.3 percent to 3.2 percent. Only Massachusetts, which also has a 3.2 percent rate, is comparable to the District. Hawaii and Minnesota, the next lowest states, maintain 5.1 percent and 6.5 percent rates, respectively. According to the new study, Wards 6 and 8 boast the lowest rates of uninsured kids in the city, less than 1 percent each.
“The Urban Institute study proves what many of us have suspected for several years – the District is a national leader on the issue of providing healthcare to our residents,” said Catania. “The question of how to cover the uninsured continues to vex many states and our national government. But here in our nation’s capital, we are showing the country how to construct a system to meet our moral obligations to our citizens when it comes to healthcare.”
In 2006, Catania authored budget language and appropriated funding to increase eligibility for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (the District’s Medicaid program for children) and the D.C. Healthcare Alliance from 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Limit (FPL) to 300 percent of the FPL. In 2010 dollars, this increased income eligibility cut-off for a single mom with one child from $29,140 annually to $43,710 annually. This historic increase added tens of thousands of previously uninsured children to the ranks of the insured.
In addition, early in Catania’s tenure, the application forms for Medicaid, TANF, and Food Stamps were consolidated into a single, easily understood form. This resulted in a major increase in the number of previously uninsured residents enrolling in the programs.
“When I became Chairman of the Health Committee, I set a goal of eliminating the number of uninsured District residents. Today, we are halfway there. But importantly, we are not finished. The implementation of Healthy DC is the culmination of several years of work, and it will take our uninsured rate even lower.”
Along with the new data, the District will soon implement the next Catania initiative designed to eliminate the uninsured – Healthy DC. The program is designed to provide a partially subsidized healthcare option to those individuals who make too much to qualify for Medicaid or the D.C. Healthcare Alliance but not enough to afford private insurance. (i.e., those between 200 percent and 400 percent of the FPL) Healthy DC will act as a bridge for these residents and will eliminate the disincentives to earn more for fear of losing one’s publicly provided healthcare.
Once implemented, the program will require a subsidized premium and low co-pays from enrollees. These amounts are determined by the person’s annual income and, thanks to assistance from the District, are set well below those available in the commercial market.
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