Kaiser Permanente Seeks to Boost Numbers of Insured Children Through `Mini-grants' to Community Agencies

Business Wire, Sept 7, 2000

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 7, 2000

Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to achieving universal health care coverage for all children in California, Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids has awarded $5,000 mini-grants to 26 community agencies throughout California. These agencies are sponsoring outreach efforts, including "back to school" enrollment of uninsured children in a range of public and private health plans matched to family income levels.

"Today, nearly 2 million children in California do not have health care coverage," says Luis Pardo, outreach manager for Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids. "Kaiser Permanente is collaborating with a broad array of partners including schools, community-based organizations, and private and government agencies to reduce the numbers of uninsured children in California."

Significant numbers of uninsured children in California would qualify for public programs, such as Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, but their families have not enrolled because of lack of information or language barriers. Others are children of parents who lack health care coverage through work, but their income is above the levels to qualify for public program. Families with incomes above eligibility levels for state programs who cannot afford traditional health care coverage may qualify for the Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids Child Health Plan.

"Our goal is to provide families with information about all available programs," said Pardo. "Our mini-grants support creative and innovative outreach efforts." (See attached page for a complete listing of agencies receiving mini-grants.)

Focus on Schools in San Diego County

One agency receiving a Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids Mini-Grant is Health-Insurance Access Through Schools (HATS), in San Diego County. "We use schools as the avenue for our outreach efforts," says Elaine Pizzola, program supervisor. "Our services are geared toward a difficult-to-reach population. We work closely with school nurses and Family Resource Centers at local schools to provide families with information about state and private programs providing health care coverage. Our outreach workers are a trusted and visible part of the school environment and can help parents with everything from getting information to filling out forms, making photocopies, and mailing forms. We participate in school activities such as parent meetings and book fairs, and we currently serve 10 schools in San Diego County."

Sacramento Enrollment Efforts

The Mayor's Commission on our Children's Health is testing a variety of strategies to increase the numbers of children with health care coverage. "We're a school-based outreach and enrollment effort," says Kelly Bennett, program manager. "We work with local school districts to send enrollment materials for various health care coverage programs to children's homes, along with registration forms for free or reduced-cost school lunches. We're also planning a Saturday enrollment event in the fall, with incentives such as raffle prizes."

Success in Solano County

"We've heard estimates of as many as 15,000 children in Solano County who lack health insurance," says Jacque Wolfram, project director of the Solano Kids Insurance Program (SKIP) in Vallejo. "Since this program started in June, 1998, we've enrolled over 4,000 children in a variety of programs including Healthy Families, Medi-Cal, and the Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids Child Health Plan."

SKIP conducts enrollment appointments in its colorful and comfortable office, sponsors enrollment events such as an afternoon at a skating center, and links with community resources such as schools and other community-based agencies. "Sometimes families without health insurance don't see it as a priority until someone gets sick," says Wolfram. "We help families understand why it is important to have health care coverage." The program's doggy mascot reinforces this message, saying "kids without health insurance have it 'ruff!'"

Kaiser Permanente's Commitment

Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids is an initiative that promotes statewide health policy, demonstration projects and research regarding the problem of uninsured children in California. Included in this initiative is a $100 million commitment to fund the Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids Child Health Plan, which can provide subsidized health care coverage for up to 50,000 uninsured children in California. Beneficiaries are children whose families don't have access to employer-sponsored health insurance, or don't qualify for public programs, but can't afford traditional health care coverage. This commitment is unique for a private health plan.

Kaiser Permanente, California, is a prepaid, group practice health maintenance organization (HMO) serving more than 5.9 million members throughout the state. More than 7,000 Permanente medical group physicians in both The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) in Northern California and the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG), as well as 55,300 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals employees, provide care to Health Plan members. There are 27 major medical centers organized into 13 service areas throughout California.