6.7 million kids at risk of losing Medicaid coverage at emergency order's end

The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's Center for Families and children estimates that 6.7 million children are at high risk of losing Medicaid coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. 

Three things to know:

1. The end of the health emergency — which HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra extended to July 15 — could more than double the number of uninsured children, according to the center. There were 4.4 million uninsured children in 2019. 

2. The number of uninsured children was on the rise between 2016 and 2019, particularly for Latino children, according to the center. 

3. The 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid coverage under the ACA saw a larger increase in child Medicaid enrollment than the states that have expanded, according to the center. The non-expansion states saw a 17.6 percent increase in the number of children on Medicaid between February 2020 and October 2021. That's compared with an 11.3 percent increase for expansion states over that span.

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