About Those Kids
July 25th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
To localize the previous post, a timely report came out today measuring the state of children’s health care. How’d Texas fair? Down at the bottom, as always.
Via the CPPP, the KIDS COUNT Data Book, a national state-by-state report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, found:
– Texas continues to have the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation. For 9 of the last 10 years, Texas has led this category
– Texas has the highest teen birth rate in the nation, 63 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19.
– Texas has the 7th worst child poverty rate in the nation. One in four Texas children lived in poverty in 2005 (a 14 percent increase since 2000), ranking Texas 44th in the nation. The national child poverty rate also worsened, increasing from 17 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2005.
– Texas’ infant mortality rate increased by 11%, although it is still just slightly better than the national average.
More details in the full CPPP report.
Of course, CHIP expansion wouldn’t solve all of those problems, although it could go a long way toward that first one. But it’s hard to see how nothing is better than something, which is what Bush is pushing.
