McHenry 1st, DuPage 3rd in rate of uninsured kids, report says

A recent report on health care coverage shows that McHenry and DuPage counties have among the highest percentages of uninsured children in Illinois.

Nearly 2,220 children living in McHenry County — or 10.9 percent of the county’s children — don’t have health insurance, the highest percentage among the state’s 102 counties, according to “At a Crossroad: A Report on the State of Insurance Coverage in Illinois,” a report released recently by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council. Numbers are for families at or below 200 percent of the poverty level — or $46,000 for a family of four in 2012 dollars — and are based on 2010 U.S. Census data.

In DuPage County, 9.5 percent, or about 4,650 children, are uninsured, ranking that county third.

Douglas County in central Illinois occupies the second spot, with Calhoun and Kendall counties rounding out the top five.

There were nearly 260,000 uninsured kids in Illinois in 2010, the report states.

However, the overall number of uninsured children in Illinois decreased from 2005 to 2010, much of it is due to the expansion of the government-sponsored health care program All Kids, said health care council President and CEO Kevin Scanlan. About 27 percent of children in the suburbs are receiving public insurance, up from 10.6 percent in 2005, the report states.

It’s hard to figure out exactly why some counties have more uninsured kids than others, but it’s a problem that often affects the so-called working poor, Scanlan said.

“They may be working jobs that don’t have access to health insurance, and can’t even afford the co-payments and deductible for All Kids,” he said.

The number of uninsured people is especially high among Hispanics who are not U.S. citizens; among those, the undocumented might be especially leery of any contact with government programs, even if their kids are U.S. citizens, Scanlan said.

In McHenry County, there might be a lack of information about All Kids itself, said Bob Tanner, president/CEO of Greater Elgin Family Care Center. The agency opened the full-time McHenry Community Health Center nine months ago in the city of McHenry to serve residents who were previously driving all the way to Elgin to get care, he said.

Also, some parents have misconceptions about All Kids, Tanner said.

“There is a certain amount of people that are suspicious of the quality of care they’re going to receive by a doctor who takes All Kids,” he said. To combat that, his agency has sought accreditation by The Joint Commission, he added.

Stephanie Altman, programs and policy director at Health & Disability Advocates, a national organization based in Chicago, said the agency’s data also show that there are high numbers of uninsured people, including children, in the suburbs and collar counties.

Families whose income is too high to be eligible for Medicaid can still find it difficult to pay for health insurance, whose costs have risen steadily in the last few years.

“We looked at the Naperville/Winfield area, considered a richer area, and you still have families without health insurance,” Altman said. “People out in those collar counties are taking a gamble. Call it middle or upper-middle class, people take their kids to urgent care and hope no one will get real sick.”

Also, small-business owners or independent contractors who have to buy health insurance for themselves and their dependents often find the premiums prohibitive, she said.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, close to 90 percent of those with incomes under 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $92,000 annually for a family of four, will get subsidized health coverage on a sliding scale basis, Altman said.

Uninsured: Some parents have misconceptions about All Kids

Uninsured children in the Chicago area

“At a Crossroad: A Report on the state of Insurance Coverage in Illinois” a report by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, analyzed the uninsured population and healthcare coverage trends in Illinois. It is based on 2010 U.S. Census data. This data looks at uninsured children younger than 18 in the Chicago collar counties. Numbers are for families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Rank County Percentage Number of kids

1 McHenry 10.9 2,182

3 DuPage 9.5 4,655

5 Kendall 9.3 659

9 Lake 8.5 4,171

15 Will 8.1 4,118

17 Kane 8.0 4,236

23 Cook 7.8 47,925

Source: Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council