A serious illness or injury to a child could spell financial ruin for a family lacking health care coverage. Yet in 1998, there were 11 million children (15 percent) without health insurance. In 1998, about 89 percent of non-Hispanic white children had health care insurance, compared with 83 percent of Asian children, 80 percent of black children, and 70 percent of Hispanic children. Non-Hispanic white children were also the most likely to be covered by private health care insurance (79 percent), and the least likely to be covered by Medicaid. Blacks were three times more likely than whites to be covered by Medicaid (39 percent vs. 13 percent).

In 1998, there were also substantial differences in children's health care coverage by region, with 89 percent coverage in the Northeast and Midwest, and only 82 percent coverage in the South and West.

• citations
• Children's Health Insurance
  at www.census.gov

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