New Analysis Reveals Number of Eligible Children Who Aren’t Enrolled in Medicaid or CHP+

The Colorado Health Institute today released its annual analysis of the number of eligible children in the state who aren’t enrolled in the Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) public insurance programs.

About 125,000 Colorado children, or 9.7 percent of all children, didn’t have health insurance in 2011, according to the analysis. This was a decrease from the 132,000 uninsured children in 2010, although the change was not statistically significant.

About 89,000 of the uninsured children were eligible for a public health insurance program but were not enrolled, according to the Colorado Health Institute analysis. Of these eligible but not enrolled children, about 39,000 were eligible for Medicaid and about 50,000 were eligible for CHP+.

The number of children eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid dropped from 42,000 in 2010 to 39,000 in 2011, although the decline was not statistically significant. The number of children eligible but not enrolled in CHP+ increased from about 40,000 in 2010 to 50,000 in 2011, although this jump was due to an increase in eligibility levels to 250 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL).

The 2011 estimates from the Colorado Health Institute are available here in three new publications:

  • A fact sheet that summarizes the high-level findings and maps county-level estimates.
  • data supplement that includes detailed tables of county-level data.
  • methodology document that outlines the assumptions and processes used to create the estimates.

About the Colorado Health Institute: The Colorado Health Institute is a trusted source of independent and objective health information, data and analysis for the state's health care leaders. We are a nonprofit funded primarily by four health care conversion foundations - Caring for Colorado Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, The Colorado Trust and The Colorado Health Foundation.

Presentations: Colorado Health Institute analyst Emily King, the report’s lead author, is available to make presentations on this topic or to answer questions. You may reach her at kinge@coloradohealthinstitute.org or call her at (720) 382-7085.

Contact:

Deborah Goeken

Senior Director of Operations and Communications

goekend@coloradohealthinstitute.org

(720) 382-7094