Date: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: HCFA Press Office (202) 690-6145

Shalala Unveils Plans to Increase Outreach to Uninsured Children

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced proposed new steps to help states provide health insurance to millions of children from low-income families who are presently uninsured.

The proposals, to be included in President Clinton's Fiscal Year 1999 budget, would bolster the aggressive outreach strategies that are already part of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which the President signed into law in August.

Under CHIP, states are being given support to make new efforts to reach an estimated 3 million children who are eligible for Medicaid, but are not enrolled. States are also to reach other uninsured children who will become eligible for insurance as a result of the CHIP legislation, especially those whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to be able to afford private health insurance.

"Providing health insurance coverage to children who need it is among the highest priorities of the President, the First Lady and myself," said Secretary Shalala. "My department is already helping states with outreach through the new CHIP program. But with millions of children needing health insurance in families that cannot afford private coverage, the President wants to step up this effort even more."

Shalala said the budget will include several new approaches to increase outreach efforts, including:

- A broad expansion of the number of places children could get Medicaid coverage immediately on a temporary basis while formal applications are processed. This process, known as "presumptive eligibility," allows workers in specially designated locations to bring a child immediately into the program on a temporary basis. Under current law, workers in such places as Head Start centers and agencies that certify families for the Women, Infants and Children program can grant a child immediate Medicaid coverage. The President's plan would expand that authority to other agencies, such as schools, child care resource and referral centers and child support enforcement programs.

- New access for states to an outreach fund established by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (formerly the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program). The proposal would help states defray the cost of finding and enrolling children by expanding the use of a $500 million fund which was originally set up to help states with Medicaid outreach for children who lost cash aid under welfare reform. Few states have used these funds, partly because of the difficulty of targeting such a narrow group. Under the plan, Medicaid would pay $9 of every $10 spent by states for most outreach activities for all uninsured children qualified for assistance, and not just for outreach to a small subset of the children. Also, the budget proposal would remove the fund's sunset date of 2000 and add an additional $25 million to the effort.

HHS has also taken a number of other steps to help states design their programs, such as holding regional meetings and providing detailed communications with states to address technical questions.

The new outreach plans were outlined in a letter to state health officials from Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, and Earl Fox, M.D., Acting Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration. The two agencies are jointly implementing the children's health insurance program.

"Successfully enrolling eligible but uninsured children is critical both to the success of these programs [Medicaid and CHIP] and the health of these children," DeParle and Fox said in their letter to state officials.

Note: HHS press releases are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.dhhs.gov.