Publicly Funded or Supported Health Insurance
Pennsylvania families have excellent options when it comes to no-cost or low-cost comprehensive health insurance for their children between Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the state-based marketplace Pennie™. It’s no wonder that about half of all children who live in the commonwealth have health insurance through one of those options. 49% of Pennsylvania children rely on Medicaid, CHIP, or Pennie™ health plans to meet their health care needs. vii The largest of the three options is Medicaid, with more than 1.3 million children enrolled for health insurance—more than half (56%) of whom are children of color. viii CHIP provides health insurance for approximately 150,000 Pennsylvania kids, or about 5% of the child population. ix That number is expected to climb as children shift from Medicaid to CHIP during the unwinding of the continuous coverage available during the COVID-19 public health emergency described in more detail on page 13. Finally, Pennie™ rounds out the options as the state-based marketplace that allows families to purchase health insurance. As expected, only a small number of children—1% or nearly 34,000—have health insurance through the marketplace. That is because Pennsylvania has a buy-in program for CHIP, meaning families with higher incomes who don’t qualify for financial assistance can opt to purchase CHIP coverage. Despite its fewer numbers, child enrollment in
Pennie™ plans did increase over the past year by approximately 5,800 children. x Enrollment by Race and Ethnicity Looking at enrollment data by race and ethnicity shows how children access programs and resources differently and provides an opportunity to evaluate and address health disparities for children of color. While most children enrolled in Medicaid are white, Medicaid is a primary source of coverage for children of color, particularly Black children, because, due to historical and continued institutionalized discrimination, they are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. Since last year, Medicaid enrollment declined for both Non-Hispanic Black children and Non- Hispanic White children, while children of other/ unknown race and ethnicity had the largest increase, now representing nearly 1 in 10 children in Medicaid. Pennie™ enrollment has become more diverse over the past year. The proportion for Non-
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Health Insurance Trends During the Final Year of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
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