Sixty percent of children who have lost their health insurance reside in nine red states where Republicans have either put into place or are advocating for harsh abortion restrictions to protect children.
In letters sent Monday to the governors of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra urged the states to take up more of the 400 options CMS has offered to ensure coverage. The options include allowing states to use enrollee information they have to auto-renew coverage.
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“Because all children deserve to have access to comprehensive health coverage, I urge you to ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to ‘red tape’ or other avoidable reasons as all states ‘unwind’ from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” Becerra wrote.
According to HHS, the nine states are responsible for 60 percent of children’s coverage losses between March and September.
New Hampshire voted for Joe Biden but it has a Republican governor and legislature. Every state in the list above shares the common trait of Republican leadership at the state level.
These same Republicans who claim that they are ‘protecting children’ by taking the rights of women to control their own health care are also taking away health insurance from children who have already been born and are very much alive.
Policy decisions like taking away healthcare from kids lend credibility to the claim that Republicans stop caring about children once they are born.
Kate Cox had to flee Texas for an abortion to save her own health and well-being, but kids in the state were thrown off of Medicaid.
Republicans are hypocrites. If they care about children as they claim to, they should care about all children, not just those who can force women to give birth to by taking away their rights.
Kids can’t go get a job and get coverage from their employer. Republicans in these nine states are actively harming the health of children.
There is only one political party in the United States that is trying to help families and children, and it isn’t the Republicans.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
