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This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. This blog post is the second in a series diving into the commentary. Last week we introduced the commentary and detailed our methodology, this week’s post will dive begin our dive into the data with a look at the health indicators.

Voices believes that our state must guarantee that all children and families have access to affordable, quality physical and behavioral health care. Consistent and preventive health care, beginning even from birth, gives children the best change to grow up to be healthy and productive adults.

The indicators in our health section of the Index of Race & Opportunity, chosen based on their ability to predict future health, success and overall well-being, as well as their proxy power – the indicators strength in representing the general direction and central importance of a variety of similar indicators, are:

1. Children with health insurance coverage: This is defined as the percentage of children who have any type of health insurance.
2. Infants receiving adequate prenatal care: This is defined as the percentage of infants whose mothers received adequate or higher prenatal care, meaning they attended 80% or more of expected prenatal visits. Mothers who attend prenatal doctor’s visits experience significant improvement in their own and their infant’s well-being. Mothers receive education on important pre- and post-natal behaviors that thereby improve the health of the baby.

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