WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $40 million to help 41 states and the District of Columbia find and enroll uninsured children who are eligible for either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“With millions of Americans either out of work or otherwise struggling to make ends meet during this recession, there is an even greater urgency to bring steady, reliable healthcare to children in these families who may have lost their coverage,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 set aside $100 million for fiscal years 2009-2013 expressly to help find and enroll eligible children. Of that amount, $80 million will be given to states and other organizations, $10 million will be given to Tribal organizations and $10 million will be used for a national outreach effort.

Grants were awarded to 69 applicants whose outreach, enrollment and retention efforts will target geographic areas with high rates of eligible but uninsured children, particularly those with racial and ethnic minority groups who are uninsured at higher-than-average rates.

Appoximately 20 percent of the projects will target Hispanic children, with an emphasis on Hispanic teens, 11 percent will focus on homeless children and 7 percent will be aimed at Native American/Alaska Native children.

Most of projects will be using multiple, community-based approaches:

• One grantee in Missouri will work with a consortium of 35 churches in low-income, minority communities.
• Another grantee will place self-service kiosks in community centers and Native American Chapter Houses and provide staff to assist.
• One state school system will track children who receive free or reduced cost lunches and, with the families’ permission, share that information with state health programs.

Grantees are required to show actual increases in enrollment and retention of children already in the programs.

Both CHIP and Medicaid state agencies will report the number of new enrollees and those who retained coverage that are directly attributable to the grant activities to the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. They will also report activities they believe are the most effective in finding, enrolling and maintaining children in these benefit programs.

“No child in America should go without decent healthcare,” said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations – the group within CMS that will administer the grants. “With the funds we are awarding ... we hope to reduce the number of children who do.”

Awards are for a two-year period ending Dec. 31, 2011, and will then be followed by another round of $40 million in new grants.