Taxpayer-supported health insurance programs are a major source of health insurance coverage for children in the United States. The National Health Interview Survey (2022) estimated that nearly 44% of U.S. children under 18 years of age had health insurance coverage supported by taxpayer dollars.  While some of this publicly-supported coverage includes children insured through Medicare, military health plans, and other government-sponsored health programs, the most significant sources of public health insurance coverage for American children are Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Medicaid is a jointly funded state-federal health insurance program for eligible low-income individuals and families, while CHIP is a separate joint state-federal effort to make health insurance available to children from low-income families who do not satisfy the criteria for Medicaid coverage.  Federal reports indicate that there were nearly 41.9 million children enrolled in Medicaid or separate CHIP programs as of January 2023.

The January 2023 data reveals that the twelve-state Southeastern U.S. had over 12.2 million children enrolled in either Medicaid or separate CHIP programs.  The Southeast thus accounted for about 29.2% of the total Medicaid child and CHIP enrollment reported by the District of Columbia and 49 states as of January 2023.  From the January 2023 federal data, here is a summary look at Medicaid child and CHIP enrollment in the Southeastern U.S.:

Medicaid Child and CHIP Enrollment in the Southeastern U.S.

Area Name	Enrollment	% of U.S. Total
Alabama	781,495	1.9%
Arkansas	440,794	1.1%
Florida	3,050,266	7.3%
Georgia	1,718,397	4.1%
Kentucky	645,264	1.5%
Louisiana	802,762	1.9%
Mississippi	477,284	1.1%
North Carolina	1,395,347	3.3%
South Carolina	754,901	1.8%
Tennessee	984,030	2.4%
Virginia	930,020	2.2%
West Virginia	244,926	0.6%
Region	12,225,486	29.2%
United States (1)	41,859,753	100.0%

(1) National figures are for the 49 states and the District of Columbia that reported child enrollment data for January 2023

Source: Medicaid.gov Enrollment Reports as of January 2023