According to a report by the health care consumer group Families USA, nearly 1 million low-income, working parents in 15 states have lost Medicaid coverage since the advent of welfare reform in 1996. The report, released in June 2000, was based on statistics provided by the 15 states, including New York, with the largest number of uninsured adults. The other states examined in the report are Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Altogether these states account for 70% of the uninsured nonelderly adults in the United States.

During the four-year period from January 1996 through December 1999, New York experienced the second greatest decline in the nation in the number of low-income parents enrolled in Medicaid. In the past two years, from January 1998 to December 1999, New York experienced the largest numerical decline in parents' Medicaid coverage. The main reason for the decline appears to be that parents are erroneously losing coverage when they move from welfare to work. Many of these parents do not receive health benefits in their new jobs.