Health Insurance for Children

By TARA PARKER-POPE

In today’s Patient Money column, Lesley Alderman writes about the various ways parents can find health coverage for their children, even if they think they can’t afford it.

Children in families with incomes of up to $44,100 (for a family of four) are likely to be eligible for some kind of government health insurance. In states where the cost of living is high, the income limits are even greater. In New York State, the cutoff for a family of four is $88,200; in New Jersey, it is $77,175.

The news is good for children, but it could be better. Almost 10 percent of children, or seven million of them, still do not have insurance. According to a recent report published in the journal Health Affairs, 4.7 million of those uninsured children are eligible for government coverage