IMPORTANT: Look for your child’s Medicaid or CHIP renewal in the mail, complete it and mail it back immediately. They may be covered even if you’re not! Every child currently covered by Medicaid or CHIP will need to go through a renewal process within the next several months. Keep your child covered and healthy. Complete the renewal as soon as you get it in the mail! Go to Medicaid.gov/renewals to find contact information for your state Medicaid office.

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Campaign Updates, January 2016

January 25, 2016

The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign team hopes that your year is off to a great start! We have a few updates to share:

  • Next Campaign Webinar This Thursday, January 28th!
  • ED and HHS Release Joint Letter and Toolkit Addressing Critical Link between Health and Education
  • Kaiser Family Foundation Hosts Public Briefing and Releases Findings from 50-State Survey

Next Campaign Webinar This Thursday, January 28th!

We hope you will join us this Thursday, January 28th, from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. for the next Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign webinar. The topic is "Planning an Effective Media Strategy for 2016." Speakers will discuss best practices and tips to help organizations plan an effective media strategy for 2016, with an emphasis on different social media platforms and the types of content than can strengthen existing outreach efforts.

ED and HHS Release Joint Letter and Toolkit Addressing Critical Link between Health and Education

The U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a joint letter and toolkit addressing a critical link that health care coverage and health services play in ensuring all students are ready and able to learn.

The letter sent to governors, chief state school officers, state health officials and state Medicaid directors includes recommended action steps to better coordinate health and education services for all students and their families and calls on state and local educational agencies to increase access to health insurance and health care, such as through school enrollment forms. The letter also encourages creating school environments with the physical and mental health supports to help students succeed academically and lead healthier lives, like through a school-based health clinic. Further, the letter recommends strengthening coordination and collaboration among education and health systems at the local and state levels, such as through key partnerships with nonprofit community hospitals.

A key component of this collaboration is a new toolkit that details five high impact opportunities for states and local school districts to support stronger communities through collaboration education and health sectors and highlights best practices and key research in both areas.

Research strongly suggests that when young people receive necessary and preventive health care and have health insurance, their academic, health, and other important life outcomes improve. For example, one recent study found that children who gained access to Medicaid as a result of expanded coverage miss fewer school days due to illness or injury and are more likely to do better in school, finish high school, graduate from college and earn more as adults.

Kaiser Family Foundation Hosts Public Briefing and Releases Findings from 50-State Survey

The Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a public briefing on Thursday, January 21st, to present findings from their 14th annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing policies. Conducted by the Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) and Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, the survey provides new data on states' Medicaid eligibility and enrollment policies, which have undergone significant change in the two years since the major Medicaid provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. The survey also provides a profile of states' current Medicaid enrollment and renewal processes and highlights capabilities such as real-time eligibility determinations and automated renewals, and provides data on eligibility levels for children, pregnant women, parents and other adults in all 50 states and DC, as well as looking at the differences between Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states. Additionally the survey provides information on premium and cost-sharing requirements across states.

Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services Director, Vikki Wachino, participated in a panel discussion along with other state and federal officials at the briefing. Access materials from the briefing.

View the news release about the survey report, Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies as of January 2016: Findings from a 50-State Survey.