Study: Oklahoma Lagging In Children's Health Insurance

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A new study says Oklahoma lags behind other states in providing health insurance to children.<br/><br/>The study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says the number of uninsured

Wednesday, August 9th 2006, 11:45 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A new study says Oklahoma lags behind other states in providing health insurance to children.

The study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says the number of uninsured children in the state has declined 5.1 percent since 1997. But Oklahoma still has the second-worst track record in the nation.

The study says about 17.5 percent of Oklahomaâ€™s children are uninsured. Only Texas has a higher percentage of uninsured children with 20.7 percent.

The numbers of Oklahoma children covered by private health insurance plans have dropped 19 percent since 1997.

During the same period, the number of Oklahoma children covered by the Medicaid-sponsored SoonerCare program grew by 81 percent.