Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign Notes: Thank You for Helping to Keep Kids Covered in 2019!

Thank You for Helping to Keep Kids Covered in 2019!

Getting kids covered by health insurance – and keeping them covered – is no small task. As 2019 comes to a close, the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign team would like to acknowledge our appreciation to our partners, grantees, and other organizations for their dedication and support to get children and their families Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage.

We’re excited about what 2020 has to offer and here are a few reasons why:

FUNDING AWARDS: In November, the 39 Connecting Kids to Coverage HEALTHY KIDS 2019 Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreement Grantees convened to discuss skills, strategies, and resources on how to effectively and successfully enroll eligible children and their families in Medicaid and CHIP. These grantees are a mix of new and repeat recipients, and are funded under the Helping Ensure Access for Little Ones, Toddles, and Hopeful Youth by Keeping Insurance Delivery Stable Act (HEALTHY KIDS Act). Topics covered included the use of data to better identify and reach eligible families, rural and teen outreach, and digital strategies – areas in which CMS will continue to explore in 2020 to help organizations hone their Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and retention outreach efforts. Also discussed at the meeting was the participation of eligible children and parents in Medicaid and CHIP, including trends over time and across geographic areas and demographic and socioeconomic groups from The Urban Institute’s May 2019 research report.

Many of the grantees have already started their activities and have big plans in 2020! CMS also anticipates awarding HEALTY KIDS Act outreach and enrollment grants targeting American Indian and Alaska Native children in early 2020. To learn more about CMS’ grantees, visit the Outreach & Enrollment Grants page on InsureKidsNow.gov.

NEW RESOURCES: The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign team recently added new resources to highlight vaccination coverage under Medicaid and CHIP. Babies, kids, and teens can get life-saving immunizations when they’re covered with Medicaid and CHIP, which protects them and their peers from infectious diseases. There are two versions of our new “Protect Their Tomorrow,” poster and palmcard, both available in English and Spanish.

Protect Their Tomorrow (Snow) – English Palmcard
Protect Their Tomorrow (Snow) – Spanish Palmcard
Protect Their Tomorrow (Snow) – English Poster
Protect Their Tomorrow (Snow) – Spanish Poster

Protect Their Tomorrow (Sun) – English Palmcard
Protect Their Tomorrow (Sun) – Spanish Palmcard
Protect Their Tomorrow (Sun) – English Poster
Protect Their Tomorrow (Sun) – Spanish Poster

Additionally we recently added resources in Russian and Farsi! These new languages bring the number Campaign resources in alternative languages to 13. Don’t see a language that you can use in your organization’s outreach efforts or other useful resources, contact us at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov and let us know!

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES: Did you know that Medicaid and CHIP coverage also provides important mental health services for children and teens? Download and share our new social media graphic for Facebook and Twitter to spread the news in your community. If your organization helps children and teens with mental health, we’d love to hear from you as we plan for future activities in this area. Send us your ideas, comments, or questions at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov.

Stay Connected with the Campaign 

• Share our Campaign materials. We have an ever-growing Outreach Tool Library of resources to use in your outreach and enrollment efforts, available in multiple languages, formats and topics.
• Contact us. To get more involved with the Campaign, contact us via email at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov.
• Follow the Campaign on Twitter. Remember to re-tweet or share our messages from @IKNGov with your social network, and be sure to use our #Enroll365 and #KidsEnroll hashtags in your posts.