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Traveling Kentucky: Kids and KCHIP

October 16th 2008

 3 comments
Posted by:  Patrick S. Jeffreys, Project Director, Kentucky Voices for Health
 
I’ve traveled around Kentucky quite a bit in the last few months and I’ve heard some tough stories about Kentucky kids. I talked with a staffer at a school in Shelby County who saw a kid in school with a wound on his foot that turned septic because a minor cut went untreated. When asked why the cut wasn’t taken care of, the student said his family couldn’t afford to go to the doctor’s office. The kid didn’t have any health insurance.  In our current system—which is changing soon—this staffer can’t do much to help the family sign kids up for KCHIP (Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program). What’s really crazy, we’re one of only four states that require a face-to-face interview to sign up for KCHIP. Most states allow schools, clinics and certain others to help the family fill out the form and mail it to the proper office.

Turns out there are roughly 50,000 kids in KCHIP now and more than 60,000 that are already eligible but just not signed up. Why? I’ve heard from folks who work with kids everyday that know about the KCHIP program, but they can’t help the kids get signed up. There are also others that don’t know anything about the program. Kids are sitting in the classroom trying to focus on the lesson at hand and they can’t do it because of the ear ache or cut on their foot they’ve been trying to ignore. Kentucky will continue to be left behind in education compared to other states when our kids aren’t healthy and can’t focus on studying.

The good news: The Governor is putting a plan out there that will cover all but a third of Kentucky’s uninsured kids and the Fed’s will pay for 78% of the plan. The challenge: How do we ensure our kids get enrolled? And how do we come up with the other 22% of the cost?

Comments

Christi Massey said...

I'm sure that the face-to-face interviews for signing up for KCHIP really prevent some families from signing up. If the aim is truly to insure these kids, then web-based registration or school-based registration would be much more effective. Many lower-income parents have too limited time and other pertinent resources (transportation, etc) to spend a day or half-day fighting to get their children signed up.

posted at 8:41 AM on Nov 18th 2008

Patrick Jeffreys said...

Thanks for your kind remarks Rich. I have heard alot in my travels across the state. Check back here in the future to read more.

posted at 2:58 PM on Oct 22nd 2008

Rich Seckel said...

Great report, Patrick. I look forward to hear more about your travels around the state -- and what people say about health care.

posted at 4:14 PM on Oct 18th 2008

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