Bringing Health Coverage to America's Uninsured Kids

TUESDAY, Aug. 2, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- An estimated 45 million Americans lack health insurance, and nearly 20 percent of them are children.

These kids are often forced to go without needed medical care, including a pediatrician.

So says the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is preparing to launch its sixth annual Covering Kids & Families Back-to-School campaign. The goal: To inform working families that their children may be eligible for federal and state health coverage programs.

The two-month campaign, set to begin Aug. 2 in Washington D.C., hopes to increase enrollment in government insurance programs and lower the health and financial costs for America's uninsured children. The focus this year will be on black and Hispanic children, who make up the majority of these kids, according to the foundation.

"There are millions of children who are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, but who are not enrolled. These are uninsured children who are needlessly uninsured," said Sarah Shuptrine, national program director for the foundation's Covering Kids & Families program.

More than half of uninsured children in 2002 were eligible for these programs, according to a 2003 report by the Urban Institute. This shortfall may be due to the stigma surrounding government support, as well as a complicated eligibility system, said Shuptrine. Also, many working parents don't realize they can have a relatively modest income and still qualify for government-funded insurance for their children. Though eligibility varies by state, in most states children in a family of four with an annual income of up to $38,000 would likely receive some coverage, she said.

Overcoming these barriers and increasing enrollment often translates into healthier children. And since these government programs cover things such as doctor visits, hospitalizations and prescriptions, they encourage parents to seek primary and preventive care for their children, Shuptrine said.

"Children who are uninsured don't have the same access to treatment as insured children for childhood illnesses such as sore throats, ear aches and asthma," she said. "These illnesses can develop into more serious and costly problems."

This in turn can increase the number of days a child misses school, which can hurt school performance, she added. Uninsured children are also less likely to have a pediatrician or family doctor, and are more likely to end up at the hospital for routine care.

Although outreach efforts to spread the word about free or low-cost health coverage and its benefits is nothing new, campaigns such as Covering Kids & Families have helped fill the gap left by cuts in state funding, said Dana F. Birchfield, director of government relations and administrator for education services at the Nemours Foundation, and a coalition volunteer.

"Organizations like Nemours have always tried to hook people up with coverage. But what this [the back-to-school campaign] does is to allow a more robust and coordinated effort," she said. "This way, instead of a financial counselor at the hospital trying to help families that visit in a given day, we can coordinate with people in the community to have a more significant impact."

Jody Ray, project director of the Covering Kids & Families grant in Florida, agreed with Birchfield about the campaign's significance. However, she added, the work doesn't stop there.

"The Back-to-School campaign and its TV and radio ads reach a large number of families, but it still only hits a certain group of people," she said. "We also need one-on-one interaction and the ability to provide assistance at the local level. We've got to reach families where it's hard to find them, which means going to where they are. If we don't have the human resources to do that, we're still missing a significant part of the population."

To find out if your child is eligible for health coverage, call the Covering Kids & Families toll-free number at 1(877) KIDS-NOW.

More information

To learn more, visit the Covering Kids & Families campaign.