1. Campaign Seeks to Make Health Insurance for 9 Million Uninsured Children a Top National Priority The Campaign for Children's Health Care, an initiative led by diverse national organizations, announced its plans to raise public awareness about the plight of more than 9 million children who have no health insurance. The campaign is designed to make expanded health insurance for children a national priority. It will involve numerous activities across the country over the next year. Among those activities are town hall meetings connected nationally by satellite, a national essay contest for school children about the importance of health coverage, the release of a series of policy reports, grassroots events in communities across the country, a Washington lobby day, and a national online petition urging expanded health insurance for all children. At the campaign's launch, the Catholic Health Association released new survey data about the public's attitude concerning expanded children's health insurance. The survey found that 70 percent of likely voters agree that providing affordable, quality health insurance to all children in the U.S. should be one of the top priorities of Congress and the President. The campaign will seek to inform the public about the urgency of expanding health insurance for uninsured children. It will emphasize that these children are primarily in working families; that investing in expanded health coverage for children will result in improving youngsters’ educational and general development; and that an early investment in children's health coverage is a sound investment. The petition will be delivered to the President and the Congress next spring at a time when Congress considers the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Go here to sign the petition: Speak Out! Sign Our Petition Petition to Congress and the President: More than 9 million children lack health insurance, and millions more have inadequate coverage in this, the wealthiest nation in the world. We must make providing health insurance for all children a national priority. Investing in children's health yields many benefits, including improved development and health, improved school performance, and long-term savings in health care costs. We therefore call on the President and Congress to begin work immediately on legislation that will provide comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health insurance for all children. 2. Deadline to Submit Comments to CMS: Friday, August 11 Comments must be submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by 11 August 2006 on the interim final rules for the draconian law requiring proof of citizenship and photo identification. We encourage health care providers, community agencies, trade organizations, and government representatives to send their feedback. The rules can be downloaded at New U.S. Citizenship Requirements (scroll to number four). 3. Efforts Continue to Build a National 211 System through Federal Funding Aloha United Way 211 has been Hawaii's valuable and reliable hotline service for children's health insurance information for the past seven years. Nationwide 211 is now available to approximately 163 million Americans, more than 55 percent of the population. 211 is in all or part of 38 states--13 states have 100 percent. Congress has recognized the importance of 211 by including it as an allowable use of funding in bioterrorism preparedness. Supporters now urge Congress and the administration to provide an annual dedicated federal appropriation for 211. The Calling for 211 Act has broad bipartisan support and would authorize $600 million over five years to assist states with implementing and sustaining 211 statewide. States would provide a 50 percent match to the grant, many using current 211 funding in the community, such as United Ways, other nonprofits, governments, foundations and businesses. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would administer the federal portion. United Way of America (UWA) is asking nonprofits to sign on as supporters for this legislation. To add your organization's name to the list, please email UWA at carlos.marquez@uwa.unitedway.org. In your email, list your organization's name, a point of contact (optional), city and state. By signing on your organization will endorse this statement: "We, the undersigned, endorse nationwide coverage of the three-digit telephone number 211. We endorse 211 as a public/private partnership, and call for federal, state, local, nonprofit, foundation and business investment to bring 211 to every American, so that every American will have access to community, volunteer, health and human service information and referral, both everyday and in times of crisis preparedness and response." 4. Health Care at Top of Children's Back-to-School List in New Mexico Every New Mexican child under age five now has access to health insurance through the expanded New MexiKids program. Lt. Governor Diane Denish, who works with the New MexiKids health insurance and the Insure New Mexico programs, announced the program's availability last week. "We have an opportunity for every child to have some insurance from birth through age five," the lieutenant governor said. During the tax holiday from August 4 through 6, she hopes people will sign up their children for the programs. "I encourage people to check in to see if they do qualify," she said, adding the opportunity is expected to be available through the school districts when school begins. During the Tax Holiday Weekend, the Human Services Department (HSD) and the New Mexico Primary Care Association are placing eligibility workers at nineteen different stores across the state to sign up children for health insurance. "Health insurance is just as important as a paper and pencils to start out the school year," stated Pamela Hyde, HSD Secretary. As part of Governor Bill Richardson's Year of the Child initiatives, eligibility requirements for Medicaid allow more children to qualify. For those who do not because of income, the premium Assistance Program will cover every New Mexico child from birth to age five. Twenty-one thousand children from birth to five do not have health insurance in New Mexico, according to the HSD. Of those, 16,000 children are in qualifying families with incomes below 235 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which is $39,010 per year for a family of three. The remaining 5,000 children qualify for Premium Assistance. [Ilene Haluska, Cibola County Beacon Online]