Dual reports featuring new data on child outcomes reveal persistent health inequalities among children in Illinois. The 2020 Illinois Kids Count report, released in conjunction with the national 2020 Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows that roughly 30-thousand more Illinois kids were uninsured in 2018 compared with 2016. Bill Byrnes with Voices for Illinois Children – Powered by YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago explains there also was a higher percentage of children of color without health insurance than white children.
Other disparities uncovered in the health report include infant mortality among black infants was two times the state rate and blood lead levels were at their highest among black children. The Casey Foundation’s 2020 Kids Count Data Book looks at 16 indicators of child well-being, and Illinois’ overall national ranking slipped from 23rd to 24th in the last year.
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