Kansas’s child uninsured rate rose from 5.3% in 2023 to 7.0% in 2024, according to state health data. That was a 1.7-percentage-point increase over the period. The figures also mask differences among groups of children and do not, by themselves, explain why coverage was lost.
The jump mirrors a national trend but moves faster, according to the Kansas Health Institute, which found Kansas had 51,114 uninsured children in 2024 alongside 195,471 uninsured adults ages 19 to 64. Nationally, the child uninsured rate rose from 5.4% to 6.0% over the same period, a statistically significant increase but smaller than the jump seen in Kansas. Separate analysis from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families found Kansas tied for fifth among all states for increases in child uninsurance between 2022 and 2024, one of twenty-two states with a statistically significant rise.
A Pandemic-Era Safety Net Unwinds
Much of the backslide traces to the end of a pandemic-era policy that had automatically kept people enrolled in Medicaid through the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to the seed reporting from KCUR. When that continuous coverage requirement ended, Kansas had to re-verify eligibility for everyone on its rolls, a process the state completed by May 31, 2024, per the Kansas Health Institute. The so-called unwinding created real barriers for Kansas families, according to Sonder Crane, a Manhattan physician and president of the Kansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Crane described missed paperwork, confusion about how to re-enroll and overwhelmed call centers as obstacles. She said some families lost coverage despite still qualifying because they found the renewal process difficult to navigate. KCUR also reported that children who lose coverage may remain eligible.
Hispanic Families Face Added Barriers
Coverage losses have differed among groups. Hispanic children had the largest increase in uninsurance in Kansas, according to KCUR’s reporting. The Kansas Health Institute found that Hispanic Kansans of all race groups were almost four times more likely to be uninsured in 2024 than non-Hispanic White Kansans: 22.1%. Nationally, Georgetown’s analysis found an uninsured rate of 9.7% for Hispanic and Latino children, second only to the 12.4% rate for American Indian and Alaska Native children; coverage for Asian children held steady.
Erica Andrade, president and CEO of El Centro, told KCUR that fear and mistaken assumptions about the effect of insurance enrollment on immigration status can deter Hispanic families, including families whose own coverage status is not in question. She said lengthy applications and difficulty getting help in a family’s native language can add to that reluctance. Andrade said eligible mixed-status households are withdrawing from coverage amid fear and public messaging.
Youngest Kids Hit Hardest
The age gap is especially pronounced among Kansas children under 6. Their uninsured rate rose 94.6%, from 3.7% to 7.2%, between 2022 and 2024, while the rate for children ages 6 to 18 rose 20.7%, KCUR reported. Georgetown’s newest national analysis, based on 2025 Census Bureau data released October 29, found the uninsured rate for children under 6 rose significantly from 5.3% in 2024 to 5.6% in 2025—an increase of roughly 48,000 young children. The overall national child uninsured rate edged up from 6.0% to 6.1%, a change researchers called not statistically significant.
Andrade said healthy children do better in school and earn more as adults. Children may have up to 15 recommended well-child visits by age 6, and gaps in coverage can delay developmental screenings and early intervention. Crane described vaccines and health screenings as basic preventive care, and said that going without preventive care can increase families’ financial burdens later.
Advocates Pitch Fixes As National Enrollment Keeps Slipping
The Kansas figures come amid declining Medicaid and CHIP enrollment nationally. Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families reported nearly 1.3 million fewer children enrolled in the programs over 2025, a 3.4% decline; by August 2026, the drop had reached nearly 2.6 million. Anne Dwyer, an associate research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, said the national figures reflect accelerated enrollment losses and administrative hurdles. She said the national child uninsured rate is now the highest it has been in a decade.
Kansas health advocates have proposed automatic renewals as one way to address coverage losses. Heather Braum, senior policy advisor for Kansas Action for Children, said more funding is needed for enrollment navigators, especially those who speak languages other than English. She also suggested combining and streamlining food assistance and health insurance applications so families could use one set of paperwork for multiple programs.
Those ideas were discussed at a Nov. 5 convening hosted by the Kansas Health Institute. The meeting brought together Crane, Andrade and Braum to review the increase in uninsured children between 2022 and 2024 and consider policy responses. Georgetown found that national child uninsured rates in 2025 ranged from 13.0% in Texas to 1.4% in Connecticut.
A Longer View of Kansas Coverage
The U.S. Census Bureau’s historical American Community Survey tables include state-level health insurance coverage data for children under 19 from 2008 to 2025, offering a longer baseline that includes pre-pandemic years. The research cited here does not establish how Kansas estimates varied by age or geography across that full period or specify whether estimates are comparable from year to year.
