Medicaid now insures more than 200,000 people in Maine, and more than half of them are children, the Maine Department of Human Services announced Thursday.

The program has grown by about 50,000 people since 1998 – and 30,000 of the new enrollees are children.

DHS said the growing number of parents and children covered comes after a concerted state effort to enroll new members.

With so many children now enrolled, just 6 percent of Mainers younger than 19 lack some form of health insurance. According to DHS, that ranks Maine as the best in the nation as far as uninsured youngsters are concerned.

The children and parents who enroll don’t cost the program as much as older and more disabled Medicaid recipients, said DHS spokesman Newell Augur.

And insuring parents and young children who don’t have other insurance promotes preventative medical care, he said.

“It saves us money down the road,” Augur said.

Medicaid is a program with national and state components. In Maine, the federal government picks up $2 of every $3 spent.

The state’s Medicaid budget is currently $1.2 billion, of which the state contributes $400 million.