The growth rate in Utah's uninsured population is slowing. However, children are increasingly likely to be without coverage, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Utah Department of Health.

The number of Utah's uninsured children, up to and including the age of 18, rose by 18,200 from 71,300 in 2005 to 89,500 in 2006. Meanwhile, the number of adults, ages 19 to 64, who lacked health insurance declined from 221,600 to 220,100.

"The increase is almost exclusively among children," said Norman Thurston, health economist for the state agency. "Most of that increase is among kids under 200 percent of the federal poverty level."

Overall, the number of uninsured increased only slightly to 306,500 Utahns, less of an increase than in recent years. That total does not match the total of uninsured children and adults noted above because of reporting methods such as rounding, according to Cody Craynor, spokesman for the health department. Over the past decade, Utah's uninsured population grew an average of 6.9 percent annually.

As a percentage of the state's total population, Utah's uninsured rate was at 9.1 percent in 2003, rose to 11.6 percent by 2005 and settled at 11.9 percent last year.

"It's relatively slow as these things go," Thurston said. "It's good news, it's not perfect news, but it's better than what we've seen in the past."

The number of Utahns who receive health insurance through their employers or unions increased slightly from last year to 78.7 percent, as did the number of those receiving insurance through Medicare in the Children's Health Insurance Program.

But state officials are reluctant to pinpoint the exact reasons for the slow overall growth rate or the increase in the number of uninsured children.

Thurston said factors in the growth of uninsured include fewer employers offering insurance and the rising costs of premiums.

Some 52 percent of working-age adults who lack a high school diploma lacked health insurance. Hispanics or Latinos were more likely to be uninsured — 36.4 percent lacked insurance.

The Health Department received $350,000 during this year's legislative session to design a way to help small businesses and their employees — about one in three Utah workers — access private health insurance, Thurston said. A plan should be presented to the 2008 Legislature, he said.

Of those under age 18 who were uninsured, some 67,800 were eligible for either the publicly funded CHIP or Medicaid, Thurston said.

The Legislature this year appropriated $4 million to allow an additional 12,000 children to be insured through CHIP starting July 2, he said.

Enrollment in CHIP, for which children living under 200 percent of the poverty level — roughly $40,000 for a family of four — are eligible, has been closed since last September because of a lack of funding, he said. CHIP currently provides insurance for an average of 35,000 children.

"It's definitely not good news for kids," Karen Crompton, executive director for Voices for Utah Children, said of the report. "It does highlight the fact of what happens when you have CHIP closed."

While the Legislature's CHIP appropriation is a good start, she said, more needs to be done to make sure all eligible children can access the publicly funded health insurance program.

"Kids need coverage 365 days a year," she said. "It's about immunizing on time, about well-baby check-ups, about getting glasses kids need if they can't see the blackboard."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com