1. SSA Promotes Children's Health Insurance Hotline The Social Security Administration this month launched an effort to inform 34.4 million families about possible health insurance coverage for their children. A message referring beneficiaries of SSA benefits to the 1-877-KIDS-NOW hotline will be included in beneficiaries' Cost of Living Adjustment letters. Although most people think of Social Security as a retirement program, there are 3 million children who receive Social Security benefits, and their parents/guardians will receive the hotline notice. In addition, the Census Bureau estimates that 1.6 million uninsured children in the United States live with grandparents, many of whom are Social Security beneficiaries. According to the latest report from Joy Kauffman at HRSA, the Insure Kids Now hotline (1-877-KIDS-NOW) received 435,315 calls since it was launched in February 1999. The toll-free line routes callers directly to a hotline in their state that provides information and applications for children's health insurance coverage. 2. Article Spotlights New Orleans Peer-to-Peer Outreach Program Note: this program was first highlighted in our 09/21/00 email broadcast. Here are more details on the program's Covering Kids connection. The Spring/Summer 2000 issue of AdvoCasey magazine, a publication of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, spotlighted a successful health insurance outreach initiative in New Orleans, Louisiana. Called "Health Care for All," the program engages community residents who go door-to-door to sign up eligible families for public health insurance. The article mentioned Covering Kids and noted that in a number of states, the lead organization for Covering Kids is one of the Casey Foundation's state grantees for Kids Count. The Casey Foundation's support for what the project dubs Walkers and Talkers is intended to complement the work of Covering Kids and other policy and advocacy initiatives by demonstrating an effective way of reaching out to disadvantaged families in tough neighborhoods. In the program's first 10 months, the largely part-time staff of four contacted 1,623 households, conducted surveys of 1,136, and signed up 312 children in 158 families. And because of the training provided by the city, the application process is both more efficient, reducing the typical approval time of two months to two weeks, and more accurate. Thus far, only one application has been returned for having incorrect information. While in New Orleans recently to address the Casey Jobs Initiative Conference, NPO Director Sarah Shuptrine visited the Walkers and Talkers project. Louisiana Covering Kids Project Director Daniel Payne arranged a meeting with project staff and families to discuss child health coverage opportunities and issues. Ruth Kennedy, Louisiana's Acting Medicaid Deputy Director, made a brief presentation about the statewide Medicaid/CHIP initiatives that are currently in place and the improvements that are on the way, such as the increase in eligibility to 200 percent of poverty, effective January 15, 2001. Daniel Payne, Sharon Pomeroy, and Sarah Shuptrine then took a Walker-Talker tour. 3. New Presidential Immunization Initiative Launched President Clinton, along with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, launched a new federal initiative to increase immunization rates among children nationwide. The President will issue an executive memorandum (11 December 2000) directing the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to assess the immunization status of the five million children under the age of five participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program and subsequently refer them to a health care provider where appropriate. The memorandum will also direct the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a national strategy to ensure more accurate and cost-effective immunization assessment, referrals, and follow-up for children at risk. According to the 1999 National Immunization Survey, 80 percent of children in the U.S. received immunizations included in the 4:3:1:3 series (four or more doses of DTP, three or more doses of the poliovirus vaccine, one or more doses of any MCV, and three or more doses of Hib). However, racial and ethnic disparities still persist. In this same category, 74 percent of Black children, 75 percent of Hispanic children, and 77 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander children have received the same immunizations, compared with 81 percent of White children. 4. New Toolkit on CHIP and Medicaid Outreach The Children's Defense Fund-New York has released a toolkit to help organizations serving low-income families identify and help enroll eligible families in New York's CHIP and Medicaid programs. "Launching a Successful Inreach Campaign" includes helpful ideas, a sample newsletter for your organization, sample registration forms with appropriate questions and more. It includes a narrative on New York's health insurance program for children, a slide show on doing Inreach, and supporting materials (sample program registration form, model referral form for health insurance, talking points on health insurance and sample newsletter articles). The toolkit is New York-specific but can be used as a model of outreach for other state CHIP and Medicaid programs. For more information or to order copies, please contact Anne Marie Costello at acostello@cdfny.org.