May 18, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Using Community Groups and Student Volunteers to Enroll Uninsured Children in Medicaid and Child Health Plus, by Melinda Dutton, Sarah Katz, and Alison Pennington, reports on an effort by the New York branch of the Children’s Defense Fund to increase the number of poor kids enrolled in government-sponsored health-insurance plans. In December 1998, CDF started a program in which it sent volunteers from Columbia University and seven community organizations to homes in upper Manhattan. Over six months, the volunteers informed families of their eligibility to receive health insurance for their children, through New York State programs financed by a block grant from the federal Child Health Insurance Program. By May 1999, the volunteers had successfully enrolled 151 kids in Medicaid and Child Health Plus; of the applications submitted, the report notes, 97 percent were accepted. The report suggests replicating the program across the state, citing more than 500,000 children in New York who are eligible for state health insurance but currently are not enrolled.
Publisher: Commonwealth Fund, 1 East 75th Street, New York 10021-2608; (212) 606-3800; fax (212) 606-3500; http://www.cmwf.org; 15 pages; free.
