Children's Health

Why It’s Important

We know that investments in children’s health coverage are returned many-fold over the life of a child. Children with access to coverage are more likely to grow up healthy, do better in school, and be ready to contribute to the future work force. They also receive regular preventive care, which ensures that small medical problems do not become costly emergencies.

Knowing the benefits of health coverage for children, CDF-Minnesota works with policy-makers, advocates and the public to ensure every child is covered. Such investments are critical not only to the future success of our children, but also to the future of our families, our communities, and our state.

Minnesota’s Challenge

There are 88,000 uninsured children in Minnesota and ten of thousands more who are underinsured. With the economic downturn and ever-rising health costs, even more Minnesota families cannot afford coverage.

To address this problem, CDF-Minnesota, in coalition with several other Minnesota health care advocacy organizations, developed the “Minnesota Health Security Act” (MHSA), which was introduced in the 2009 state legislative session. Based on the “Children’s Health Security Act,” which successfully passed the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2007 but did not become law, the MHSA charted a clear path to affordable, guaranteed health care coverage for all Minnesotans, starting with children.

During the 2009 session, the MHSA finally passed.  The bill removed all barriers to MinnesotaCare coverage for children whose families earned less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.  Now, these children could get health coverage at no cost, with no waiting period, even if private insurance was available at their parents’ workplace. It is estimated that at least 22,000 more children will have health coverage as a result.

However, the legislation requires Federal approval before it can be implemented. This is necessary because Minnesota operates its health coverage programs somewhat differently and requires some flexibility. This approval is done through a waiver process that allows Minnesota to continue to receive significant Federal funding to cover the additional children. The waiver request was submitted last fall and usually takes up to one year to process. We urge fast resolution on this so that thousands of Minnesota’s children receive the health care coverage they need.