From: Anat Kelman on behalf of Children’s Defense Fund Texas
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 12:06 PM
To: Anat Kelman
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Medicaid
families encouraged to reapply for coverage immediately due to Hurricane Ike
disruptions
Importance: High
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT:
Anat Kelman Shaw
December 19,
2008
(713)664-4080,
(832)488-8242 cell
Medicaid families encouraged to reapply for coverage immediately
due to Hurricane Ike disruptions
72,000 children at risk of losing coverage by the end
of the year
3,500 children at risk of losing CHIP, many have not
yet paid their enrollment fee
Texas – 72,000 children are
at risk of losing Medicaid coverage by the end of the month, with a
disproportionate impact in the Houston and Beaumont areas. Computer
system malfunctions and increased applications for Food Stamps and emergency
relief caused Medicaid applications in the Houston and Beaumont areas to be
delayed.
The Health and Human Services
Commission (HHSC) is encouraging families who applied for Medicaid in September
and October to return to the Medicaid office where they applied for coverage
before the end of the year. HHSC will honor family’s statements that they
applied or attempted to renew coverage in September and October and will
expedite applications.
3,500 children are also at
risk of losing health coverage through the Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP). According to the Health and Human Services Commission, many
families have not paid their annual enrollment fee. Families should pay
their fee immediately so that children do not lose coverage.
Barbara Best, Texas Executive
Director of the Children’s Defense Fund, said, “The Children’s Defense Fund
appreciates HHSC’s good faith effort to reinstate children in health
coverage. We encourage families to reapply for Medicaid before the end of
the year so that eligible children do not lose coverage. Texas
legislators and HHSC administrators must also act immediately to simplify the
eligibility system so that children are not wrongfully dropped from
coverage. Texas must upgrade outdated computer systems and hire and train
staff so that the eligibility system works efficiently. In addition,
Texas must provide children on Medicaid with twelve months of continuous
coverage instead of requiring parents to reapply for coverage twice a year.”
“In the aftermath of
Hurricane Ike and in a struggling economy, it is more important than ever to make
sure that children’s health coverage programs are operating efficiently and
that eligible children aren’t wrongfully dropped from coverage,” Best added.
According to the Texas Health
and Human Services Commission, Texas Medicaid is expected to decline by almost
73,000 individuals by the end of the year. Of these, 72,000 are
recipients of Children’s Medicaid. Enrollment in the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP) is also projected to drop by 3,500 children. The
Texas Health and Human Services Commission indicates that the Houston area has
been impacted most heavily by the enrollment loss.
The drop in CHIP and
Children’s Medicaid is expanding Texas’ already high population of uninsured
children. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation,
with one in every five children – 1.5 million – lacking coverage.
Between 700,000 and 800,000 of the 1.5 million uninsured children in Texas are
eligible for but not enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid. Both programs provide
low-cost or free health coverage for uninsured children in working families
that earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level - $42,400 a year for a
family of four in 2008.
The Children’s Defense Fund
called on policy makers to take three critical steps to reduce the red tape
that keeps eligible children from getting coverage:
·
First, Texas must upgrade the eligibility system so that
applications are processed in a timely manner. There are serious backlogs in processing Children’s
Medicaid. It is taking three months or longer in certain parts of the
state to process a Medicaid application, when the federal law standard is 45
days. Parents spend hours resubmitting application after application,
resending lost paperwork, and filing appeals when their children are wrongfully
denied coverage. To make the system work as intended, Texas must hire and
train staff and improve slow computer systems.
·
Second, Texas can cut the number of uninsured children,
improve their access to care and cut state workloads and backlogs, all by
reenrolling kids in Children’s Medicaid once, not twice, a year – the model CHIP already uses and what’s proven to work for children
and Texas. 12 months coverage for Children’s Medicaid would provide
significant relief to the eligibility system by cutting the number of renewals
eligibility workers would have to process in half – from 3.8 million to 1.9
million per year.
·
Third, Texas needs to improve how we spread the word about
children’s insurance options, by doubling and focusing our outreach where
children already are: in schools and local communities. Community-based organizations must now serve twice as many Texans
compared to the first years of CHIP, but we budget less for outreach in 2008 –
2009 than when CHIP started. We must identify successful outreach models
and take them to scale. One promising example is the 100% Campaign,
a collaboration with the Houston Independent School District and Houston
hospitals. By adding a question on health insurance to school enrollment
forms, the Children’s Defense Fund has identified every uninsured child by
campus. School based outreach workers then follow up with uninsured
children and link them with coverage.
CHIP and Medicaid are a
wise investment for Texas children and local taxpayers. For every $1 invested in CHIP, Texas receives
$1.47 in federal matching funds for Medicaid and $2.52 in federal matching
funds for CHIP. When children lose health coverage, they end up in local
emergency rooms for care, at a staggering cost to local taxpayers. It
costs about $100 to treat a child’s mild asthma attack in a doctor’s office,
while the cost of hospitalization for a serious asthma attack is $7,300.
Because of the economic benefits of children’s health coverage, the chambers of
commerce in the eight largest Texas cities have endorsed maximizing federal
matching funds available through CHIP and Medicaid.
CHIP and Medicaid provide
low-cost or free health coverage to uninsured children in working families. A family of four can earn up to 200% of the
federal poverty level, $42,400 a year for a family of four in 2008, and
qualify. Families pay no more than $50 a year to insure all their
children. CHIP and Medicaid cover regular check-ups and immunizations,
hospitalization, surgery, x-rays, prescription drugs, dental, vision and mental
health services.
To apply for CHIP or
Medicaid, parents can call toll-free
1-877-KIDS-NOW or download an application from the internet at www.chipmedicaid.org. Families who
applied or attempted to renew Medicaid coverage around the time of Hurricane
Ike should reapply at the Medicaid office where they submitted the initial
application.
The Children’s Defense
Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy
Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral
Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring
families and communities. Children’s Defense Fund of Texas offices in
Houston, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley work to ensure every child a Healthy
Start in life and access to affordable health coverage.
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