Changes in Reported Health Status and Unmet Need for Children Enrolling in the Kansas Children's Health Insurance Program.

CHANGE; HEALTH; CHILDREN; MEDICAL care; HEALTH insurance; LITERATURE

KANSAS; UNITED States

To date, most work investigating the effect of the State Children% Health Insurance Program on uninsured children has focused on eligibility or insurability. Few studies have analyzed its effect on children's health status or access to health care. Current literature discusses the experience of children newly covered by state or privately funded children's health insurance programs that existed before the Balanced Budged Act of 1997 that established the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Recent work has summarized research studies that have showed the broader effect of having health insurance on health status and access to health care. In an effort to understand the effects of the Kansas State Children's Health Insurance Program-HealthWave-on newly insured children and a small number moving into the State Children's Health Insurance Program from Medicaid, researchers working with the state designed a survey to profile children's Health Insurance Program from Medicaid, researchers working with the state designed a survey to profile children's health status.