Uninsured Rate Among Young Children Hits Nearly Decade High

The Center for Children and Families (CCF) at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy said the increase was at least partly linked to the end of pandemic-era protections that let people stay on Medicaid without routine eligibility checks. Texas, Florida and Georgia accounted for more than half of the rise in uninsured young children over the two years, the report found.

CCF researchers Elisabeth Wright Burak and Aubrianna Osorio called the findings “a major warning sign for what’s to come” as states face Medicaid cuts and new coverage restrictions under the 2025 Republican budget law. They said anti-immigration policies and rhetoric have contributed to missed medical appointments and made some parents fearful of enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. One in four U.S. children has at least one parent born abroad, they wrote, and most of those children are citizens.

The researchers also warned that work reporting requirements and additional paperwork, expected to take effect in 2027, could put more parents enrolled in Medicaid at risk of losing coverage. When parents lose insurance, their children may also lose access to care, a pattern the researchers called the “unwelcome mat” effect.

The administration has introduced a rule guiding how states implement the requirements in the budget law, which includes around $900 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade. Advocates say bureaucratic hurdles could cause millions of people, including children, to lose coverage. CCF estimated that by April 2026, about 2 million fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program than in January 2025, when President Donald Trump began his second term.

CCF executive director Joan Alker said falling enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP pushes up the child uninsured rate. She urged federal officials to investigate the coverage losses, noting that income eligibility levels had not changed and unemployment had been inching upward since Trump took office.