Fewer Arizona Kids Uninsured Thanks to Fewer Bureaucratic Hoops

A new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) shows that pandemic-era Medicaid protections led to a significant improvement in the child uninsured rate nationally and in Arizona from 2019-2022. Throughout the national public health emergency, children covered by Medicaid were protected by a 2020 bipartisan change in federal law that gave states extra funding in exchange for keeping people enrolled in Medicaid, known as AHCCCS in Arizona.  This means fewer Arizona children lack health insurance: 8.4 percent in 2022, down from 9.2 percent in 2019. Especially noteworthy is the rate of Arizona Native American children who are uninsured fell from 24.3 percent to 13.6 percent in that same period. However, this policy that made it easier to stay enrolled in AHCCCS expired in April, and since that time nearly 100,000 children have lost their AHCCCS coverage, threatening this progress. The good news is that AHCCCS has taken up federal options to reduce paperwork burdens for certain populations. 

See the updated Arizona report card of children’s health.

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