A pair of new reports released this morning detail the impacts families have felt from the loss of the KidsCare health care program for low-income families.
Last year, Arizona became the only state in the country to not have a Children’s Health Insurance, or CHIP, program — although budget cuts led to an enrollment freeze in 2009.
Three years later, a group of hospitals pooled their resources to draw down federal money in a program called KidsCare II.
Joe Fu, Health Policy Director for Children’s Action Alliance, said there were about 37,000 kids enrolled when the program ended a year ago. Of those, around 23,000 were automatically enrolled in Medicaid, but about 14,000 lost coverage right away.
