Georgia House Bill 163 would automatically enroll many kids receiving food stamps in Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled. This would give tens of thousands of uninsured Georgia children a pathway to health coverage.
But that hasn’t happened yet, and about 7% of children in Georgia are uninsured, a higher percentage than the national average. According to financial website WalletHub, Georgia ranks No. 42 in the percentage of uninsured children.
WalletHub released its annual ranking of the Best & Worst States for Children’s Health Care, and the Peach State did not fare well.
For its 2021 ranking, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: kids’ health and access to health care; kids’ nutrition, physical activity and obesity; and kids’ oral health.
They then evaluated these categories using 35 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100 point scale, with 100 representing the best health care for kids.
Georgia’s score was 39.08, putting it at No. 50. Although we were No. 9 for oral health, the state was dead last for kids’ health and access to health care, and No. 31 for kids’ nutrition, physical activity and obesity. The state has fallen six spots since the 2019 prepandemic ranking.
Among key metrics, Georgia ranked:
39th – % of children in excellent/very good health
42nd – % of uninsured children
47th – infant death rate
40th – % of children with unaffordable medical bills
45th – pediatricians & family doctors per capita
34th – % of overweight children
27th – % of obese children
39th – % of children with excellent/very good teeth
19th – COVID-19 positive tests in the past week per capita
The District of Columbia, with a score of 60.89, came out on top this year, followed by Hawaii, Vermont, Washington and Maryland, in that order, to round out the top five.
There are things parents should do to help their children grow up healthy, Sasha A. Fleary told WalletHub.
Fleary, an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Social Sciences at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, said well-visits, opportunities for physical activity, social-emotional development and engaging in positive parenting strategies provide a safe and secure environment for kids.
“However, parents’ capacity for engaging in these behaviors vary widely due to socioeconomic and racial disparities,” she said. “For parents to help their children grow up healthy, they need to have access to secure housing, realistic and flexible work hours, living wages, and safe built and social environments.”
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