by Vani Sanganeria | EdSource

This story was originally published by EdSource at edsource.org/updates/young-children-losing-health-coverage-faster-than-older-kids-but-still-faring-better-in-california. Sign up for their daily newsletter.

The number of young children without health insurance rose more sharply than the rate for older children between 2022 and 2024, reaching its highest level in nearly a decade, according to a new analysis from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

The uninsured rate for children under age six increased from 4.3% to 5.3% — a 23% increase within two years — leaving nearly 220,000 additional babies, toddlers and preschoolers in the U.S. without any health coverage. The number of uninsured school-age children grew by 17%.

“For young children, especially, lack of coverage can mean missed opportunities for early intervention during children’s most rapid period of brain development that can be more complex and costly to address as children get older,” the report’s authors wrote. “Increasing rates of uninsured young children make national priorities, such as kindergarten readiness, much harder to achieve.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends more frequent primary care visits from birth to age 3 to monitor developmental milestones and intervene where more support may be needed. Children with health coverage are more likely to access necessary checkups and follow-up care.

The report attributed the increase in uninsured rates among children to the rollback of Medicaid enrollment protections, which required states to reassess eligibility after COVID-19 emergency policies ended. More than half of uninsured children are also considered to be eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program but are not enrolled, according to researchers.

States like Texas, Florida and Georgia saw the worst increases in uninsured rates among young children. California, among other Democrat-led states like Connecticut, Washington and Oregon, fared better, with a 2.6% uninsured rate compared to the national 5.3% rate, ranking fifth out of 45 states with 2024 data.

California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, has extended coverage to more young children compared to other states and helped maintain the uninsured rate between 2022 and 2024. But since Trump’s extensive cuts to Medicaid last year, more than 151,000 California children were estimated to lose coverage, and nationally, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment has declined by nearly 2 million children since January 2025.

“These negative trends are troubling as young children must access timely, appropriate care early in life to set them up for long-term success,” read the report. Research by the Congressional Budget Office indicated that Medicaid spending on children yields a clear positive return on taxpayer dollars, estimating that one additional year of Medicaid continuous coverage in childhood results in higher earnings, hours worked and productivity in adulthood.

Vani Sanganeria covers student health and well-being as EdSource’s Local News Fellow, a partnership with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has been published in L.A. Public Press, Knock L.A. and L.A. TACO, among others. She lives in Los Angeles and is originally from Kolkata, India.