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Maine Children's Alliance

Children participating in MaineCare in Maine

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Why This Indicator Matters

Children with health insurance have better health than children who do not have insurance, as they are likely to not receive timely care if they do not have health insurance. A child's health is also influenced by whether or not the parents have insurance. Maine expanded access to Medicaid for adults (called MaineCare in this state) in January 2019, later than most states. Source, Table 3: Kaiser Family Foundation Fact Sheet States Compare Medicaid Coverage

What the data shows
The number of children with MaineCare in the years 2010-2019 was at its highest in 2012 and has declined each year since. There were 26,000 fewer children with MaineCare comparing June 2019 with June 2012. The rate of participation has also steadily declined and now stands at 43.9% statewide, compared to 50.8% in 2012.

In terms of county rates, in 2019, Washington County is the only county with a rates above 60% at 63.5%. Piscataquis and Somerset had the next highest rates in 2019 at 58.6% and 57.1% respectively.  The counties with the lowest rates of children with MaineCare were Cumberland (30.7%), York (34.1%), and Sagadahoc (34.4%).
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Definitions: The number and percent of individual children ages 0-18 participating in MaineCare. These data are reported by state fiscal years (SFY). Children are reported by county of residence at the end of the SFY or the end of the child's participation in the program. Note that the statewide figure for all years includes children who were non-residents, who were out-of-state, or whose residence is unknown. The numerator is the number of children who used MaineCare at any time in the fiscal year and the denominator is the number of children in Maine ages 0 -18 for same year or latest year that data is available for.

Data Source: Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of MaineCare Services. 

Footnotes: For 2005-2009 and 2012-19, county/state percentages were calculated using population estimates provided by Maine's Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics. For 2010 & 2011, county/state percentages were calculated using the 2010 U.S. Census. The figures include MaineCare and CHIP but count a child only once even if they had both MaineCare and CHIP during a fiscal year.

Updated January 2020