Medi-Cal has dropped several hundred thousand low-income children from the health insurance rolls since April 2023, according to a new report from Georgetown University. The data show a net drop in children s Medi-Cal enrollment of 200,000 kids between April and December of last year, as the state started redetermining participants annual eligibility - which had been paused to ensure continuous coverage during the pandemic. Mayra Alvarez, president of the Children s Partnership, said another 100,000 have been dropped this year. .
After Texas, a new report shows Florida has seen the second-largest decline in the number of children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children s Health Insurance Program. Of the 4.16 million fewer children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP nationally, Florida accounts for nearly 600,000 enrollment declines - according to a report by Georgetown University s Center for Children and Families, tracking the Medicaid unwinding since COVID-related coverage protections were lifted. Alison Yager, executive director with the Florida Health Justice Project, said it s more like a crisis has been unfolding in Florida - and they ve long been sounding the alarm. .
The need for child care and early learning is critical, especially in rural Arkansas. One nonprofit is working to fill those gaps by giving providers a chance to get more education. The Career Pathways Program with Save the Children partners with universities to grow the workforce of child care and preschool providers. .
With another $19.9 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds soon coming to New Hampshire’s early childhood education sector, officials hope the funding will help combat staffing issues that experts say could cause around half of the state’s centers to permanently close by the end of the pandemic.
Early education and child care center officials pinpointed staffing as one of their most pressing ongoing pandemic challenges while speaking with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., during a virtual roundtable Monday morning.
“Wages, as we know, is a huge issue and something that has been blown wide open because of COVID,” said MaryLou Beaver, director of Waypoint’s The Children s Place and Parent Education Center in Concord. “We really need to be coming together and working on a solution to how we’re going to pay the staff we require degrees from what they deserve to be paid for the quality of work that they do and how we encourage more to come into the field as well. I’m re