1. Now at a Blockbuster Near You!
Gather friends and family members around the television, rev up the vcr, and grab the popcorn. The video "Hawaii's Medicaid Programs and How to Complete the Med-QUEST Application" is now available in Blockbuster's twenty-one stores statewide. It is a free rental (no-cost entertainment for the whole neighborhood!) in the Community Service Section.
Mahalo to Cathy Jeans, Senior Administrative Assistant in Blockbuster Entertainment's Honolulu office, for her help--another partner assisting Hawaii Covering Kids!
2. H&R Block to Promote Hotline
H&R Block has made a commitment to promote children's health insurance coverage by asking families whether their children have health insurance. If they do not, and their income is within eligibility ranges, families will receive a statement referring them to the 1-877-KIDS-NOW hotline.
Last year, 16 million families had their taxes prepared by H&R Block, and 4 million of them qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), indicating that their incomes are similar to families eligible for CHIP or Medicaid.
3. Publications of Interest
"Challenges and Options for Increasing the Number of Americans With Health Insurance," a series of papers commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on the Future of Health Insurance. The papers deal with insurance for working people who lack access to both employer-based and publicly funded coverage. It is available at http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221369.
"Help Workers Boost Their Paychecks! Promote the Earned Income Credit," an outreach kit from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 2000. The kit includes a CHIP outreach kit request form for employers and other interested parties who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) kit. To order a copy of the EITC kit, email center@center.cbpp.org.
4. Establishing Paternity
Under federal law, a parent's cooperation in establishing paternity, assigning rights to medical support and payments and providing information about liable third parties cannot be required as a condition of a child's eligibility for Medicaid. Therefore, states are not required to ask about paternity or to seek cooperation in pursuing medical support and third-party payments when an application for Medicaid is filed, or a redetermination is performed, only on behalf of a child. If a state does ask about paternity or otherwise pursues medical support in the context of an application on behalf of a child, it must advise the parent or other individual completing the application on behalf of the child that such information and cooperation is not required in order for the child to be enrolled in Medicaid.
This state Medicaid director's letter from the Health Care Financing Administration on 19 December 2000 is available in PDF format at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/smdl/downloads/smd121900.pdf.
5. Faith-Based Communities Sign Them Up
The Children's Defense Fund has extra print copies of its "Sign Them Up!" newsletter on the role faith-based organizations can play in Medicaid and State CHIP outreach. Email your name, organization, address, phone, and email address to lcdfhealth@childrensdefense.org.
6. Patterns of Health Insurance Coverage within Families with Children
Increasing health coverage for children and low-income parents is on the agenda for many children's advocates this year. A Commonwealth Fund analysis of family health coverage patterns finds that 76 percent of families with children have health coverage for all family members, but one in seven--14 percent--have health coverage for the parents or the children, but not both. The report argues that expanding private and public health options to whole-family coverage could extend full family coverage to 4.5 million working poor families.
7. Disparities in State Health Coverage: Policy or Fortune?
The wide discrepancies among states, especially for their vulnerable populations, results from a combination of three forces: differences in fiscal capacity between rich and poor states, different priorities in state budgets, and a federal matching formula for Medicaid that is only marginally effective at reducing spending disparities among states.
This State Coverage Initiatives web site also has a matrix of coverage strategies employed by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It lists coverage expansions through three categories: the Medicaid program, CHIP, and state-only programs (programs without federal funding). The report can be downloaded in PDF format at: Disparities in State Health Coverage
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