AFC Policy Platform - Illinois Action for Children

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Addressing Health InsuranceBackgroundOne of the most pressing social issues inthe United States today is the risingnumber of Americans who lack healthinsurance. In 2002, over 43.6 millionAmericans were uninsured. 1.6 millionof them live in Illinois. Child careproviders consistently lack healthinsurance at much higher rates than thegeneral population, both nationwide andin Illinois.ResearchAction for Children recently enlisted theUniversity of Chicago Survey Lab to pollIllinois child care providers and centers onthis issue.• In a survey of 270 home child careproviders, 43 percent reported havingno health insurance of any kind.• In a second survey of 220 child carecenters, 33 percent indicated that theywere not able to offer health insuranceto their employees.In comparison, only 13.9 percent of thegeneral population is uninsured.Lack of health insurance is one of themajor reasons why many child careproviders decide to leave the field. Illinoisis no exception to this nationwide problemwith an average turnover rate of 39percent among center-based providers.Unfortunately, this high turnover rateadversely affects the quality of carechildren receive. Several studieshave shown that having a consistentcaregiver is a crucial factor in improvingthe quality of care for a child. Providerswho have been in the field longer naturallyhave more experience — enhancingquality. Helping child care providers gainaccess to health insurance would not onlyimprove the health of providers and allowthem to stay in the profession, it would,by extension, benefit children in their care.Rhode Island and North Carolina havetaken steps to remedy this problem.In 1997, Rhode Island created a healthinsurance program for family child careproviders that allowed them to receivehealth coverage through the state’smanaged care program for Medicaid andSCHIP. In 1999, the state also created aprogram for center-based providers thatpartially subsidized the monthlypremiums they paid for private healthinsurance. In the same year, NorthCarolina created a health insuranceprogram, through the T.E.A.C.H.scholarship program, which uses subsidesto pay for private health insurance.T.E.A.C.H. participants and providerswho work at a center that has at leastone participant can qualify for the healthinsurance program.Other states have created healthinsurance programs that impact child careproviders, but target larger populations.California has PacAdvantage, a programthat allows small businesses across thestate to pool their numbers together forthe purpose of purchasing private healthinsurance. Massachusetts has the
MassHealth Family Assistance Program,which provides low-income employees whowork in small businesses with subsidiesto help them pay for employer-sponsoredhealth insurance.ActionAction for Children has taken severalsteps to begin addressing this problem inIllinois. We recently completed a reportexamining health insurance programsthat impact child care providers in severalother states and the feasibility ofimplementing similar programs in Illinois.An executive advisory board made up ofchild care advocates, health care experts,politicians, business leaders and otherrelevant members will use their collectiveexpertise to map out a strategy and timelinefor connecting child care providersin Illinois with the health insurance theyneed. Action for Children is committed tofinding a way for Illinois child careproviders to gain access to affordable,quality health insurance.
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AFC Policy Platform - Illinois Action for Children

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