Treating Underinsurance

Whereas recent attention to health care reform has focused on insuring uninsured Americans, the report in this issue of the Journal by Kogan et al. addresses a different and important problem — “underinsurance.” Using a broad definition, Kogan et al. find that large numbers of U.S. children and adolescents have full-year insurance coverage but still face problems getting needed care.¹ In fact, applying their definition, they found more children who were underinsured (almost 20% of U.S. children) than children who were uninsured, either year-round or intermittently (15.1%). Furthermore, the problems faced by underinsured children in terms of health care quality . . .