Government programs are helping kids get insurance, and not just those in households below the poverty line. The New York Times interviewed Dean McCrea, a 55-year-old widow who lost his job when his employer went out of business. McCrea could no longer afford insurance for him and his 16-year-old son, but recently he was able to get help through a program called Healthy Kids. It’s a state-run health insurance program for middle class families. McCrea was able to get his son insurance for just $38 a month. “A lot of people in my circle, solid middle-class families, are struggling,” McCrea told The New York Times. “The peace of mind that this program has supplied me is not measurable.”

According to the Census Bureau, the number of insured children under the age of 19 was just under 91 percent which is a record high. “To a surprising extent, the government has really stepped up to provide affordable coverage options for middle-class kids, along with their lower-income counterparts,” Jocelyn Guyer, co-executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, told the New York Times. “It’s a success story.”

That means that close to ten percent of children, or seven million, don’t have insurance. But experts say more than  half could qualify for government insurance through programs like Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program). “Our biggest obstacle has been to convince families that don’t qualify for food stamps or other subsidies that they qualify for our program,” Cathy Kaufmann, administrator of the Healthy Kids program in Oregon, told The New York Times. Children in families of four with incomes of up to $44,100 qualify for certain government insurance programs. And if you live in a state like New York where the cost of living is higher, families of four can earn over $88,000 and still qualify.

Eligibility varies greatly depending on which state you live. But in a dozen states, even if you earn too much you still may be able to buy in to to more affordable CHIP policies. Finding out if you qualify is easy. Just visit InsureKidsNow.gov to find out about what’s available in your state. You can also visit the government’s new health insurance website Healthcare.gov to search for child-only policies. Plug in your child’s information and you’ll immediately have access to various policies at different price points so you can make an educated decision about keeping your child insured.

Well, it’s official. The U.S. Congress is preparing to tackle the American health care system. Meanwhile, President Obama is anxious to have viable legislation read to sign before the close of 2009.

Based on the findings of a new University of Minnesota report, the numbers of adults in the United States who currently do not have any insurance coverage because they cannot afford it or do not have any sources of income is definitely on the rise. The report presents the data on a state-by-state basis.