Government Helps to Insure Children, Even Above the Poverty Line

By LESLEY ALDERMAN
NYT

THE last few years have not been easy for Dean McCrea.

In 2007, Mr. McCrea, 55, lost his wife of nearly 30 years. Then last November the company he worked for folded, and he could not afford to pay the steep Cobra premiums required to keep health insurance for him and his son, Henry, 16.

Mr. McCrea, a media producer in Portland, Ore., receives $380 a week in unemployment benefits, which barely covers his mortgage; Henry receives a small stipend from Social Security each month. “The last years have been a constant navigation of what feels like Class 5 rapids,” he said.

In June, Mr. McCrea’s luck turned, a little. He learned about Healthy Kids, the state’s health insurance program for middle-class families, and promptly enrolled his son. The program provides Henry with full health coverage, including vision and dental. The cost: $38 a month.

“A lot of people in my circle, solid middle-class families, are struggling,” Mr. McCrea said. “The peace of mind that this program has supplied me is not measurable.”

(More here.)