Between 2019 and 2022, during the public health emergency, Urban researchers found significant gains in insurance among families with children ages 3 and younger.
The findings suggest that pandemic-related coverage policies—such as a continuous coverage requirement in Medicaid that maintained enrollment for enrollees between March 2020 and March 2023, enhanced Marketplace subsidies beginning in 2021, and other changes such as seven states adopting the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion—contributed to these coverage gains.