Boost 4 Kids

100% Campaign, Health Insurance for Every California Child

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of Children Now, Children's Defense Fund and The Children's Partnership with primary funding from The California Endowment, was created to ensure that every California child has health insurance.

America's Insure Kids Now Campaign to Increase Child Health Insurance Coverage

Information on federal and state programs to increase health insurance coverage for children. Customer service, 800 telephone number, contact information. Child Health Insurance Program information and contacts. Clearinghouse on effective strategies and programs. Spanish and English.

Assessing the New Federalism

"Assessing the New Federalism," an Urban Institute Project, is a multi-year Urban Institute research project to analyze the devolution of responsibility for social programs from the federal government to the states, focusing primarily on health care, income security, job training, and social services.

Campaign for Coverage

The number of Campaign for Coverage participants grew to roughly 1,500 hospitals and health systems - each with an exciting story to tell. They found ways to extend coverage to nearly 2.5 million uninsured people and to improve access to health care services for another 3.4 million people.

Chartbook on Children's Insurance Status

This chartbook examines demographic and other characteristics of insured and uninsured children in the U.S. It is based on data from the March 1998 Current Population Survey CPS and reflects children’s insurance status during calendar year 1997.

Child Health Insurance and the National School Lunch Program

Fostering A Close Connection: Report to Covering Kids on Options for Conducting Child Health Insurance Outreach and Enrollment Through the National School Lunch Program

Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - Outreach and Enrollment

A description and history of the CHIP program. Includes suggestions regarding several issues, including reaching all eligible children and improving the application process.

Children's Defense Fund, an Introduction to CHIP

Enacted by the U.S. Congress in August 1997, the state Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is designed primarily to help children in working families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private family coverage.

Children's Health Insurance Data 1998

A report from the Commerce Department's Census Bureau revealed that the number of uninsured children was 11.1 million (15.4 percent) in 1998.

CHIP Toolkit

This community guide is designed to assist local groups across the country in informing families about and enrolling children in the new Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid.

Congress Lifts the Sunset on the "$500 Million Fund"

Extends Opportunities for States to Ensure Parents and Children Do Not Lose Health Coverage. A total of $500 million in federal matching funds was made available to states at enhanced rates to implement the delinking of welfare and Medicaid eligibility for families with children.

Connect for Kids

Connect for Kids is a virtual encyclopedia of information for adults who want to make their communities better places for kids.

Covering Kids

covering kids, a national health access initiative for low-income, uninsured children, is a $47 million program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help increase the number of eligible children who benefit from health insurance coverage programs.

Ensuring Parents and Children Don't Loose Health Coverage

Welfare reform has resulted in declines in state’s Medicaid caseloads and reduced insurance coverage of eligible children. The 1996 federal welfare reform law established a pool of $500 million in federal matching funds to help states pay for the costs associated with ensuring that children and parents do not lose Medicaid coverage as a result of the new law.

Families USA

Families USA is a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health and long-term care for all Americans. This site includes information on children's health and Medicade. It also contains publications.

Free & Low-Cost Health Insurance

The Start Healthy, Stay Healthy campaign is a national outreach effort conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to identify children from low-income working families who may be eligible for free or low-cost health insurance programs.

Gaps in Insurance Coverage for Children: A Pre-CHIP Baseline

Data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) are analyzed here to estimate the number and composition of children lacking health insurance prior to the implementation of CHIP. Findings show that 9.2 million children ages 18 and under and 2 million individuals ages 19 and 20 lacked insurance coverage in 1997.

Hawai'i Covering Kids

Hawaii Covering Kids is a three-year project launched in June 1999 to create a seamless health insurance enrollment process for children eligible for QUEST (a Medicaid program) and State CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program).

Health Insurance and Coordination with School Lunch Programs

This is the first in a series of issue briefs about some of the innovative methods being explored to offer more children affordable health care. Schools are an obvious place to find children, and states are reporting that sending information about children’s health insurance through the school system is a very effective way to generate applications and enrollment.

Health Insurance Applications for Each State

This page features health insurance applications and information on how to submit completed forms in all states.

Health Insurance Data, Census

This site contains information on the current population survey on health insurance coverage: 1998, children's health insurance, low income uninsured children by state and detailed historical tables from the current population survey: 1987-1998.

Health Insurance Makes a Difference in Health Care

"The Impact of a Children's Health Insurance Program by Age," as published in Pediatrics, reports health insurance leads to reductions in unmet medical needs, delayed care and restricted childhood activities among all age groups, but especially for older children.

Healthfinder

One stop information on federal sources of health information. Information on adoption, asthma, child care, diabetes, medicare, nutrition, pregnancy, prevention, health care, sexually transmitted diseases, tobacco, immunization, mental health, substance abuse, etc.

Hope for Kids

HOPE for Kids, a program of HOPE worldwide, is one of the most effective health education and immunization outreach programs in North America with more than 40,000 volunteers active in 107 cities throughout 39 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Insure Kids Now

Millions of children are eligible for free and low-cost health coverage through state children’s health insurance programs (SCHIP) and Medicaid.

Low Income Uninsured Children by State

Number and Percent of Children under 19 Years of Age, at or below 200 Percent of poverty, by State: Three-Year Averages for 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Making Child Health Coverage A Reality: Medicaid and CHIP Strategies

This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation notes a number of areas where improvements can be made, such as investing more in labor-intensive community-based outreach and services.

Making It Clear: Quick Guide to Public Charge

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has summarized the latest "public charge" rules in a new two-page flyer -- "Making It Clear: Quick Guide to Public Charge" -- to help clarify regulations on accessing public benefits and the impact on immigrant "green card" applications.

Medicaid and SCHIP: Comparisons of Outreach, Enrollment Practices, and Benefits

In some states the Medicaid enrollment process is more complicated than required by federal law.

Millions of Health Insurance-Eligible Teens Remain Uninsured

New Study Finds States Must Work Harder to Enroll More Than 2 Million Eligible Adolescents

Missed Opportunities

Reviewing the data on Medicaid enrollments for kids, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' "Missed Opportunities" report argues that "states and the federal government need, in particular, to take steps to assure that changes in welfare policies do not result in children missing out on the coverage for which they are eligible."

Most Uninsured Children Are in Families Served by Government Programs

This report is part of the "New Federalism: National Survey of America's Families" series by the Urban Institute. Using estimates drawn from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), this brief examines the potential of certain federal programs for reaching the families of uninsured children.

National Corporations and Organizations Promoting Insure Kids Now

This document outlines what private corporations and organizations have been doing to promote Insure Kids Now. This is list of specific actions being taken by those organizations.

National Governor’s Association

The National Governor’s Association site contains issue papers on a variety of SCHIP issues, children’s issues, including policy papers, links to states, and best practices from state government, grant announcements, and survey instruments.

National Health Law Program

Working for Justice in Health Care for Low Income People.

National Survey of America's Families - Public Use Data

The National Survey of America's Families can now be viewed using a simple point-and-click prgram availabe for free on the web. The NSAF Tabulator has data on 33,703 children. Variables include demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, income, and family structure; health insurance and status; and children's and adults' behanivor and attitudes. The Tabulator will generate national data, as well as state-specific dta for Alabama, California, Colorado, Flroida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Nebraska's Application to HHS for SCHIP

Nebraska has combined Medicaid/SCHIP program with presumptive eligibility.

Presumptive Eligibility for Children

States that have created a separate CHIP (S-CHIP) program can ensure that health care is immediately available to children who appear to be eligible by allowing schools to grant presumptive eligibility.

Presumptive Eligibility for Children: A Promising New Strategy for Enrolling Uninsured Children in Medicaid by Donna Cohen Ross

The Balanced Budget Act contains a provision that gives states the option of allowing certain health care providers and other community-based organizations to "presumptively" enroll children in Medicaid who appear to be eligible based on their age and family income.

Public Charge

In an effort to protect the public health and help people become self-sufficient, the Clinton Administration is publishing a proposed rule in the Federal Register on May 26 that clarifies the circumstances under which a non-citizen can receive public benefits without becoming a “public charge” for purposes of admission into the United States, adjustment of status to legal permanent resident, and deportation.

Real Clout

"Real Clout" is a manual for community-based activists who are trying to improve health care access by influencing public policy.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Covering Kids is a three year project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to identify and enroll eligible children into Medicaid and other health coverage programs. These goals will be accomplished by supporting state-community coalitions to pursue the three goals at the statewide level and to work with local coalitions in two to three pilot sites. The lead organization may be a statewide child advocacy organization, state medical or hospital association, a private coverage program, a state agency, a civic, educational, religious or philanthropic organization, or other group that can assume a statewide leadership role. Each state-community coalition must design both a statewide project and pilot community-based initiatives. Three-year grants support 50 statewide and 167 local coalitions in conducting outreach initiatives and working toward enrollment simplification and coordination of health coverage programs for low-income children. The grants range from $500,000 to $1 million.

SCHIP -- State Plans

This Health Care Financing Administration site contains state plans, approval letters, fact sheets and other official correspondence for most State Child Health Insurance Programs. Click on the map to get information for your state.

SCHIP: Matching Rates and Allotments by State

State-by-State information regarding available resources for child health care funding and where it comes from.

SCHIP: NGA's Annual Report 1999

Two years after the passage SCHIP, all 50 U.S. states, three territories and three commonwealths have submitted plans, received approval from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), and begun implementation. NGA’s site contains state-by-state reports.

Snapshots of America’s Families: Variations in Health Care across States

This paper presents preliminary findings from the 1997 National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF), a household survey providing information on over 100,000 children and non-elderly adults representing the noninstitutionalized civilian population under age 65. The primary focus is on health insurance coverage and several measures of access to care. (NOTE: Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this report.)

State Children's Health Insurance Program

This site contains State Children's Health Insurance Program best practices from the National Governors' Association.

State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

SCHIP: What the States Are Doing, from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Includes lots of specific state by state information on plans, goals, applications, outreach efforts, funding, etc.

State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) - Questions

Question 32(a). When do expenditures under the presumptive eligibility provision of Medicaid qualify for the enhanced match and when do such costs count against the Title XXI allotment? Question 32(b) How are the costs of presumptive eligibility determined that are counted against individual State allotments (2104(d)(1))?

State Health Insurance Program Information from the Health Care Financing Administration

HCFA’s informational website on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Contains state plan submissions, status reports, state contacts, activity map, plan approval information, enrollment status report, letters to state officials, outreach information and FAQs about SCHIP. This site also has links to all of the SCHIP regulations in the Federal Register. Links to the HCFA “outreach clearinghouse” with tools for states, schools, community organizations, advocates and others.

State Planning Grants

Information for grants to encourage States to provide access to affordable health insurance coverage to all citizens by providing States the resources for planning and a supportive policy environment for implementation of these plans.

Steps States Can Take to Facilitate Medicaid Enrollment of Children

Ten steps states can take to facilitate the enrollment of children in Medicaid.

The Access Project

The Access Project views local healthcare initiatives as part of a continuum of reform efforts that need to be better understood, supported and studied. Rather than detracting from state and national reform, local efforts are filling gaps in the system of care for the uninsured and are providing instruction for the development of comprehensive solutions.

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured

The website for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, strives to bring increased public awareness and expanded analytic effort to the policy debate over health coverage and access, with a special focus on Medicaid and the uninsured.

The Southern Regional Initiative to Improve Access to Benefits for Low Income Families With Children

The Southern Regional Initiative’s report discusses issues and strategies states can consider in providing health coverage for more low income children. The chapter contains a discussion of eligibility outreach and eligibility simplification issues, including common applications.

Welfare Information Network

This site is a Clearinghouse for Information, Policy Analysis & Technical Assistance on Welfare Reform. This is a must see sight! Any type of welfare information imaginable can be found in this one place. Rural issues, evaluation strategies, events, publications, health insurance, and domestic violence are just a few of the sub-links within this site.

What Did Welfare Reform Do to Medicaid in Your State and What Can You Do About it?

The Robert Wood Johnson "State of the States" report analyzes state health care coverage and identifies upcoming challenges like including oral health services and maintaining a steady base of enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP.