The Urban Institute released a brief examining the impact of the national health care reform law on children.  The brief states that millions of uninsured children will gain coverage through the law's expansion of Medicaid and the creation of health insurance exchanges.  In addition, the authors suggest that children will also have improved access because their parents will be more likely to have health coverage under the law.  The Urban Institute suggests that the law will benefit children overall.

From the report: Health reform is expected to have a number of positive effects on the lives of children age 18 and under.  More children are expected to have health insurance coverage under reform, which in turn should increase their receipt of needed health care and ultimately improve their health and functioning.  The single most important way that the estimated seven to eight million uninsured children will gain coverage under health care reform is likely to be through increases in coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) among the children who are already eligible for coverage under those two programs.

Full report: How Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 Affect Children? (PDF|239.74KB). 

Urban Institute.  How will the PPACA of 2010 affect children?  Kenney, G. and Pelletier, J.