Approximately one out of every 20 children in Iowa (5.2 percent) is uninsured, according to a report released Monday by Families USA.

The state's

Iowa's Children's Health Insurance Program -- hawk-i.

The national organization for health care consumers found that the vast majority of the state’s 38,000 uninsured children (97.7 percent) come from families where at least one parent works, and approximately three-quarters of uninsured children (75.3 percent) live in households where at least one family member works full-time, year-round.

Nearly half of those children come from families with incomes below twice the poverty level, or $35,200 for a family of three in 2008, and are likely eligible for Medicaid or hawk-i.

The report, “Left Behind: Iowa’s Uninsured Children,” uses data from 2005 to 2007. It does not factor in the recent economic downturn that most expect could drive up the number of uninsured.

Nationwide, an estimated 8.6 million children lacked health insurance in 2007. Last year, Congress voted to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which would have expanded health coverage to about 4 million uninsured children nationally. President George W. Bush vetoed the measure, which is set to expire in March.

“The children’s health legislation vetoed by the President would have provided much-needed relief to uninsured children in Iowa and across the nation,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, in a press release. “Unfortunately, the minority of congressional members who voted with the President made it impossible to override the veto.”

There are currently more than 50,000 children enrolled in hawk-i,  the SCHIP program in Iowa.