Top U.S. official pushes kids health plan enrollment

U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addresses the National Children's Health
Insurance Summit in Chicago. (David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)

The nation's top health official is in Chicago calling for new strategies to find and enroll an estimated 5 million uninsured American children who are eligible for federal programs.

"This is a critical mission, it is a moral imperative," said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She spoke today to roughly 500 community, faith-based and government
health care providers gathered downtown for the National Children's
Health Insurance Summit, which ends Friday.

Participants are hearing from experts and sharing their own methods for
reaching uninsured kids to enroll them in Medicaid health insurance for
the poor or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Organizers say this is the first conference of its kind in more than 10 years.

Some of these uninsured children live in remote areas or are a part of
immigrant families who might not be aware public health insurance
exists. Sebelius said it can also be a struggle to retain children who
are enrolled at one point but might move and fail to re-enroll, she
said.

And the economic crises and high unemployment rates mean more families are losing their private health insurance.

"The gap in private insurance for children has risen dramatically," Sebelius said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $40
million to fund 69 local outreach projects across the country, and some
recipients were at the conference discussing their strategies. The
department plans to distribute another $90 million in grants for more
outreach projects over the next four years.

Medicaid serves more than 32 million children and the Children's Health Insurance Program serves another 7 million.

For more information on free or reduced-cost children's health insurance, visit www.insurekidsnow.gov or call 1-877-543-7669.

--Evangeline Leventis

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