Study finds many Nevada children uninsured

Last fall, 16.6 percent of Nevada children lived in poverty and 32.4 percent had no health insurance, according to a National Center for Children in Poverty study released Wednesday.

Nationally, the study found 24.7 percent of children live in poverty and 18.9 percent are without insurance.

The number of Nevada's uninsured children may not change any time soon.

State Human Resources chief Charlotte Crawford says Nevada is trying to deal with the problem, but has a conflict with the federal Health Care Financing Administration that could delay low-cost health insurance for children in working poor families.

Gov. Bob Miller has written to federal officials to express concern over any delay in a July 1 start of the state's proposed Nevada Check-Up insurance plan, Crawford added.

Other study findings include:

-Thirty percent of Nevada's toddlers aren't immunized. The national average for children between 19 months and 35 months is 23 percent.

-Of the nearly 126,000 Nevada children under age six, 25.4 percent live in a single-parent family, compared with a national average of 27.9 percent.

-Seventeen percent have parents who didn't finish high school. The national average is 14.6 percent.

-For 31.4 percent, neither parent was working full-time, compared with a national average of 33 percent.

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