Characteristics of Rural & Urban Children Who Qualify For Medicaid or CHIP But Are Not Enrolled

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Characteristics of Rural & Urban Children Who Qualify For Medicaid or CHIP But Are Not Enrolled overview

Substantial Portions of Children Who Are Eligible to Enroll in Medicaid or CHIP Are Uninsured About three-quarters of children who qualify for Medicaid or CHIP are enrolled, with slightly higher rates in rural areas than in urban areas.1 This leaves one in four qualified children without insurance coverage. In order for efforts to expand health coverage to all children to be successful, it is important to consider both the rate at which qualified children participate in Medicaid and CHIP and the characteristics of children who are qualified for the programs but uninsured. A companion brief summarizes findings on Medicaid/CHIP participation rates for rural and urban children.1 This brief describes the characteristics of rural and urban children who qualify for Medicaid or CHIP but are not enrolled, or children who are “qualified-but-uninsured”.