1. Hawaii Covering Kids Featured on "Outcomes" Television Program Tune in to Olelo's channel 52 on September 3, 10, 17, and 24. The show is every Wednesday from 8:00-8:30 pm and next month our project will be highlighted! 2. State Coalition Meeting: October 28 at 10:00 am Mark your calendars for our next public information session. A representative from Med-QUEST will discuss the plastic identification cards issued to their customers and speakers from Kaiser, AlohaCare, and HMSA will provide details on their organizations and QUEST programs. The location is the YWCA on Richards Street. 3. Temporary FMAP Increases to State Federal government contributions to Hawaii for its regular Medicaid programs increased from 58.77 percent. The last two quarters of fiscal year 2003 are 61.72 percent and first three quarters of fiscal year 2004 will be 61.85 percent. 4. Parents' Familiarity with Medicaid and CHIP Grows and Interest in Enrolling Children Is High An issue brief from the Urban Institute examines the changes in parents' awareness of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) between 1999 and 2002 and their interest in enrolling their uninsured children in public programs in 2002. The information is based on data collected in the National Survey of America's Families from 1999 and 2002. Between 1999 and 2002, the share of low-income uninsured children whose parents had heard of CHIP increased by 23.3 percentage points and the share whose parents understood that welfare was not a prerequisite for enrolling a child in Medicaid or CHIP increased by 13.4 percentage points. Among families familiar with Medicaid or CHIP, 81.7 percent of low-income uninsured children had parents who said they would enroll their child if told the child was eligible. The brief concludes that recent outreach efforts have paid off. Mass media campaigns and community-based efforts to identify and enroll eligible children have increased the number of children enrolled in either Medicaid or CHIP. 4. Are We Holding the Line on Health Insurance for Low-Income Families? The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured sponsored a policy briefing releasing a new state survey. The new report, "Preserving Recent Progress on Health Coverage for Children and Parents: New Tensions Emerge," was prepared by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities researchers. At the event, Virginia Governor Mark Warner spoke about Virginia's progress in enrolling children. "In eighteen months, we have enrolled an additional 50,000 kids in Virginia's health insurance programs for children. We have done that by removing barriers to enrollment, simplifying the application process, eliminating premiums, and insisting on aggressive outreach to potential beneficiaries. This turnaround in our program has been conducted against the backdrop of an enormous budget shortfall. Despite all of the challenges facing Virginia and the other states right now, we have never wavered from our commitment to making health care a high priority for Virginia's children."