Rhode Island Children Still Insured, Despite the Recession 

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released new data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) today showing that 93.7% of Rhode Island's children had health insurance between 2008-2010. According to the CPS, 6.3% (14,333) of Rhode Island's children under age 18 were uninsured during that period, the same percentage as the three-year period from 2005-2007, before the recession. Three out of five children (60.8%) had employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) and one-third were covered by RIte Care or other public/government insurance. Rhode Island now ranks 13th best in the nation for children's health insurance coverage, up from 19th last year. View the state-by-state rankings.
 
Nationwide, the U.S. rate of uninsured children was 9.7% between 2008-2010, an improvement from 10.7% in 2005-2007. Research shows that insured children are more likely to receive preventive care, be screened for developmental milestones, miss fewer days of school, and get medical treatment for common illnesses, chronic conditions and emergencies than uninsured children.

Access to Oral Health Care Issue Brief Released 

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT recently released its latest Issue Brief - Access to Oral Health Care for Children in Rhode Island - during a policy roundtable event in Providence. The Issue Brief includes an overview of dental coverage for children with Medicaid/RIte Smiles, a description of dental services available and recommendations for improving access to oral health care.

Read the news release, related articles in the Providence Journal and Providence Business News, and view the photo gallery.  

RIte Smiles Celebrates 5 Years

RIte Smiles, Rhode Island's Medicaid managed care oral health program for children under age 11, celebrated its 5th birthday on September 1, 2011. Currently, over 55,000 children have RIte Smiles dental coverage. Since RIte Smiles began, children are getting to the dentist more and the number of preventive visits has increased, according to the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services. In 2006, before RIte Smiles began, there were 27 dental providers in Rhode Island who provided dental care to children with Medicaid coverage. Now, there are 202 dentists in more the 380 locations throughout Rhode Island, thanks in large part to RIte Smiles.