1. Please Mark Your Calendars! Hawaii Covering Kids is sponsoring "Kids Health Insurance Week" from August 8-15 to coincide with the national Covering Kids Back to-School Campaign. Each pilot project is organizing a media outreach event and there will also be statewide activities. 2. GMMB&A Media Outreach Conference Call #3 Title: Photo-Ops and Press Lists: Making Your Outreach Activities Media-friendly Date: Tuesday, 19 June 2001 at 8:00 am HST From selecting a news conference or event venue to hints on tracking media coverage, this call will teach organizations how to leverage their outreach efforts with a few easy steps to make your programs attractive to the media. To join the conference call, please press 1-888-287-3903 (toll-free). Ask for the Covering Kids Technical Assistance Call. People who are unable to participate in the call can hear a replay by calling 1-800-615-3210, access code 5143874. The replay will be available from 11:00 pm on June 19 until 6:00 am on June 27. The calls are open to Covering Kids grantees and coalitions as well as other organizations and their members involved with outreach and enrollment for State CHIP and Medicaid. 3. Pediatricians Want Expanded CHIP Coverage The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that Congress expand CHIP to allow states to include children through 21 years of age. 4. Secretary Thompson Announces Approval of Medicaid Waiver for New York State Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today that the Department of Health and Human Services approved a Medicaid waiver that will provide health insurance coverage to an additional 619,000 low-income, underinsured New York residents. The waiver will expand coverage under New York's Family Health Plus to an estimated 352,000 uninsured parents with income up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Another 267,000 without children and with income at or below the federal poverty level also are now eligible for coverage. "Governor Pataki developed an innovative solution to providing health care coverage to New York families who need it most," Secretary Thompson said. "We are building on President Bush's promise to build a partnership with the states and renewing our commitment to giving states the flexibility they need to find the best way to provide insurance to their residents." Family Health Plus will provide health coverage for those who do not have health insurance through their employers but make too much to be eligible for traditional Medicaid coverage. Family Health Plus will help assure that single adults and parents are able to receive the same health care as children in New York. The waiver will cover childless adults at or below the poverty level, as well as uninsured parents at 120 percent of the federal poverty level, once the state begins to enroll residents. Uninsured parents at 133 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible on October 1 and uninsured parents at 150 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible on 1 October 2002. 5. Health Insurance Is a Family Affair A new report from The Commonwealth Fund suggests that extending insurance to parents may not only decrease the number of uninsured Americans but may be the best way to cover more uninsured children. The report, Health Insurance: A Family Affair, by Jeanne M. Lambrew of George Washington University, reveals that in states that have expanded Medicaid and State CHIP to parents as well as children, uninsured rates for eligible children are far lower than in states that have not expanded coverage to parents. "The failure of states to insure parents-and entire families-at least partly explains the slow growth of insurance coverage for children in some states and the persistence of high uninsured rates," said Cathy Schoen, executive director of The Commonwealth Fund Task Force on the Future of Health Insurance. "This report suggests that proposals to encourage states to expand health insurance to low-income parents could benefit not only these parents but their children, too." To download in PDF format or order "Health Insurance: A Family Affair" go to http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221289. 6. Families USA and Children's Defense Fund Conference Calls The June 14 call is available on replay and the other is in July. The call about issues related to access to care--such as primary care and dental services--once a child is enrolled in Medicaid or State CHIP features an overview of the issues and how some states are successfully addressing the problems. Call 1-800-677-6200 and enter pin #2453. The second call will be Wednesday, 11 July 2001, at 8:00 am HST. It will focus on keeping children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP as long as they are eligible. It will examine how states can simplify the eligibility renewal process and how some states are taking advantage of these opportunities.