How Child Health Financing and Payment Mitigate and Perpetuate Structural Racism

Abstract

Health financing for children and youth comes mainly from commercial sources (especially, a parent's employer-sponsored insurance) and public sources (especially, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Plan [CHIP]). These 2 sources serve populations that differ in race and ethnicity. This inherent segregation perpetuates a system of disparities in health and health care. Medicaid (and CHIP) have become the largest single provider of health insurance to US children and youth, currently insuring over 50% of all children and youth, with even higher rates for children of racial and ethnic minorities. Medicaid provides substantial benefit to the populations it insures, with good evidence of both short- and long-term improved health and developmental outcomes, and better health and well-being as adults. Nonetheless, some characteristics of Medicaid, especially the major state-by-state variation in eligibility, enrollment practices, and covered services, along with persistent low payment rates, have helped to maintain a separate and unequal health program for racial and ethnic minority children and youth. Several changes in Medicaid-including linking CHIP more closely with Medicaid, strengthening national standards of payment and care, assuring coverage of all children, and incorporating social and family risk adjustment-could make the program even more beneficial and diminish racial differences in child health financing.

Keywords: Medicaid; equity; health financing; insurance; racism.