Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants

Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants

On July 2, 2013 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded nearly $32 million in new grant awards to fund the Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants (Cycle III) to continue efforts to reach out, enroll, and retain eligible children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  These grants are funded by the Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is awarding 41 grants to state governments and organizations in 22 states; two grantees are multistate organizations.  

Overview

The Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grant funds are provided through the Affordable Care Act to continue the grant program first funded under the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA). The objective is to reduce the number of children who are eligible for but not enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, and to keep them covered for as long as they qualify. The projects funded also help prepare organizations and communities for the expansion of health insurance coverage that will start in January of 2014.

Efforts to streamline Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and renewal practices, combined with robust outreach activities, have helped reduce the number of uninsured children.  Since 2008, 1.7 million children have gained coverage and the rate of uninsured children has dropped to 6.6 percent in 2012.

Key Aspects of the Grants

Applicants for Cycle III grants were directed to design their proposals to address issues in one of five primary focus areas.  The focus areas and the number of awards being granted in each is below:

1. Engaging schools in outreach, enrollment and retention activities (9 awards);
2. Bridging health coverage disparities by reaching out to subgroups of children that exhibit lower-than-average health coverage rates (8 awards);
3. Designing and executing targeted enrollment strategies to streamline health coverage enrollment for individuals participating in other public benefit programs such as food nutritional programs or other assistance programs (3 awards);
4. Establishing and developing application assistance resources to provide high quality, reliable Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and renewal services in local communities (13 awards); and
5. Conducting training programs to equip communities to help families understand the new application and enrollment system and to deliver effective assistance to families with children eligible for Medicaid or CHIP (8 awards).

The average grant award is $775,000, with a range of $190,000 to $1 million.

CMS ensured grantees represent states with a large number of eligible, but unenrolled children.  These states are California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Arizona, Illinois and Indiana.

States that received more than one grant include California (9), New York (5), Texas (3), Pennsylvania (3) and Georgia (2). 

Grantees: