Health Care Coverage for Children

Of the 22 babies born every day, at least 10 are born into poverty. That's 48% of babies born into poverty in Boston.¹

Health care coverage for children

Much of the work we do at United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) is advocacy, in an effort to raise awareness of issues affecting the health of our communities and giving representation to (and ultimately creating resources for) those vulnerable and unable to speak up for their own interests.

In 1996, UWMB, having convened the business community, worked with another organization, Health Care For All, to raise awareness of the need to provide health care coverage to children. The Health Care Access Law, enacted through this collaborative effort in July 1996, still provides access to health insurance for all uninsured children up to age 19. This law, now known as the Children’s Medical Security Plan (CMSP) expanded health insurance programs to provide coverage for 160,000 previously uninsured children and youth, and later served as a national model for congressional action on children’s health care in 1997.

Since 1997, UWMB has been working closely with fellow advocates to protect this vital program and avoid budget cuts that would hamper our state’s ability to continue providing this coverage. In June 2004, UWMB advocated successfully with our partners for the Legislature to once again fully fund the CMSP, eliminating the waiting list of almost 15,000 children and youth.

The benefits? Prevention versus intervention is less costly. Aside from the obvious benefits for parents and their children, by reducing the number of uninsured children, the taxpayer burden is reduced comparable to an emergency situation when a child is not.