Uninsured

Indicator Definition 
Adolescents (ages 13–17 years) are considered uninsured if they did not have a public or private source of health care coverage for the entire past calendar year.

Adolescents without health insurance in Colorado5

Adolescents without health insurance by income in Colorado6

Indicator Significance 
Over the past decade, the percentage of adolescents covered by health insurance in the United States has increased for poor and near-poor families due to growth in public insurance programs such as Medicaid and the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Because of declines in private health insurance coverage for dependents of workers, however, coverage for adolescents in middle- and higher-income families has declined. Insurance coverage plays a critical role in ensuring access to health care services. Adolescents who have insurance coverage are more likely to have an ongoing relationship with a primary physician. Since health status is linked to high school performance, having a continuous and reliable source of primary care is an important determinant of success.

Although poor and near-poor families make up one-third of the total population, they represent two-thirds of uninsured adolescents.¹

Colorado Specifics
Colorado ranks 33^rd in insurance coverage for adolescents. Uninsurance rates for Colorado adolescents declined from 15 percent during 1999-2001 to 12 percent during 2005-07, however, this still leaves an estimated 41,000 adolescents without health insurance.² Insurance coverage for adolescents is strongly associated with family income. Adolescents in families below the federal poverty level are roughlynine times more likely to be uninsured as those living in families at or above 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

Promising Initiatives
In Colorado
Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics (RMYC) is a nonprofit organization that provides access to high quality health care services for children and adolescents in the Denver metropolitan area. RMYC serves youth regardless of insurance coverage or their family’s ability to pay. This unique program model seeks to provide care in those places where adolescents live and spend their time, such as schools, youth centers, residential facilities and homeless shelters. RMYC has three primary clinics, two mobile units and more than 20 smaller off-site clinics. In 2007, RMYC expanded its efforts to provide health and dental care to a number of rural Colorado communities.³

Elsewhere
The Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, in Palo Alto, Calif., created the Teen Health Van to provide comprehensive health care to teens in California’s San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco Counties. With social workers, dieticians and physicians on board, a comprehensive range of health issues can be covered in one visit. The van program uses innovative techniques such as theater, art and cooking classes to attract the interest of teens. The program has a return rate of over 70 percent of teenaged patients, as well as a constant influx of new patients.⁴

Adolescents without health insurance⁷

Text

1. Newacheck PW, et al. “Trends in Public and Private Health Insurance for Adolescents.” Journal of the American Medical Association; March 10, 2004.
   
2. Population estimates in this sentence come from the Current Population Survey (2005 – 2007) and refer to adolescents ages 13 to 17 years.
   
3. The Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics.
   
4. Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
   

Charts

5. Source: Colorado Health Institute analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 1999 - 2007.
   
6. Source: Colorado Health Institute analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 2005 – 2007.
   
7. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2005 - 2007.