Who are the Uninsured Children in Tennessee?

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2007

About 92,000 children were uninsured in Tennessee in 2006. Of these:

• 31,000 (about a third) were in families whose income was below 100% of FPL. All of these children, ages 0-17, qualify for TennCare.

• 5,000 children were in families whose income was between 100% and 149% of FPL. All of these children qualify for Cover Kids with the low tier of copayments ($1 to $5 for prescriptions and office visits, $5 to $10 for ER visits and hospitalizations), no lab or x-ray charges, no deductibles, and no monthly premiums.

• 11,000 children were in familes whose incomes were 150-199% FPL. Most of these children qualify for Cover Kids with the high tier of copayments ($15 to $20 for office visits, $5 to $40 for prescriptions, $50 to $100 for ER visits and hospitalizations), no lab or x-ray charges, no deductibles, and no monthly premiums. Of these 11,000 children, there are about 2000 infants; those whose income falls below the 185% FPL threshold would qualify for TennCare instead.

• 24,000 children were in families with 200-249% FPL; all qualify for Cover Kids with the same out-of-pocket costs as the children in the above group.

The remaining 20,000 uninsured children are in families whose incomes exceed 250% of the FPL. All of these families could "buy in" to Cover Kids, with monthly premiums of $225/month per child. Of these:

• 3,000 children were in families whose incomes were between 250% ($53,000 a year for a family of four) and 399% of FPL ($84,800 for a family of four.)

• 17,000 were 400%+ FPL, and could buy in to Cover Kids. Of these:
  • 2,000 had incomes of 450-499% of FPL
  • 15,000 had incomes of 500%+ FPL (over $106,000 for a family of four).