There were in 2001 1.9% of children being raised by relatives other than their parents, according to the census bureau by 2004 this number had risen to 4%, and it continues to climb. 55% of these children not raised by other relatives are in the care of grandparents.
Rarely do these children have health insurance from their parents as they are often times not working. Even when they are working many of the parents who cannot care for their children are not in a position where they themselves have health insurance. What are grandparents to do?
Many times the grandparents have insurance, but the latter will not cover the children unless they have been adopted and that is not always possible, nor the best thing to do.
Other grandparents are covered by the Federal Government or the department of defense, under Champus or champ VA. These programs are good but will not cover un-adopted children.
Regardless of the reason, for which grandparents cannot obtain insurance for the children they care for, it is a difficult and even scary situation. States offer health insurance for children who are not covered for any reason, and the first line of information is through the medicaid programs, that every state does maintain.
While medicaid programs are for low income families, some do offer insurance regardless of income for grandparents raising grandchildren. Keep in mind that these children would, were it not for your raising them, be in foster care and cost the state much more. Local SRS offices are the place for the first line of information. You should ask for programs that are not income contingent, as the lack of coverage cannot be overcome.
Medical insurance is evidently the primary concern for most grandparents raising grandchildren, however relatives who raise children can also qualify for other benefits, such as child care subsidies, disability benefits, and special education services. CDF (children defense fund) might be a source of information about these programs.
If the grandchildren you are caring for were at one time placed in the foster care program, before they came to live with you, you may also qualify under the Federal Kinship Guardianship Assistance program, and receive guardianship assistance payments.
Every state has different requirements for application so it would be difficult to include them in a short article, but at the time of writing this article I verified that every state was offering low cost or no cost health insurance for children who were not covered by private insurance.