Note: ECE workers could select more than one source of insurance.
*“Other types” included insurance through another employer, through a parent’s insurance, and through another type not listed in the survey.
Source: MD Child Care Policy Research Partnership November 2024–December 2024 Workforce Survey
The survey also found that 21 percent of center-based workers and just 2 percent of FCC workers receive insurance through their child care employer.[2],[3] Without access to employer-sponsored insurance plans, FCC workers, in particular, often rely on their spouse or partner’s insurance plan: 20 percent of center-based workers and 34 percent of FCC workers receive insurance this way. Finally, 10 percent of center-based workers in Maryland were uninsured, as were 7 percent of FCC workers; nationally, 13 percent of ECE workers are uninsured.
Rates of Medicaid/Medicare receipt among Maryland’s ECE workforce are similar to those nationwide, where 28 percent of ECE workers receive Medicaid. Notably, Maryland expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2014; ECE workers in states that did not expand Medicaid were four times more likely to be uninsured than those in other states in 2023. Many child care workers earn wages too low to afford private insurance, leaving Medicaid or marketplace plans as their primary options for coverage. However, with recent changes to federal health care policies—including new Medicaid policies and increased costs of marketplace health insurance plans—Maryland ECE workers will find it more difficult to access these options. As a result, more ECE workers may be uninsured or leave the field for other jobs that offer better access to health benefits.
See our Maryland Child Care Policy Research Partnership website to learn more about Child Trends’ partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education.
