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Cities across the U.S. are making children’s health a local priority and taking an active role in enrolling kids and families in Medicaid and CHIP.

Health Care

Moms Say Thanks to Mayors for Leadership on Connecting Children and Families to Health Insurance

October 30, 2014
Chuan Teng's picture
Chuan Teng
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** This post was written by Chuan Teng at the National League of Cities (NLC). It originally appeared on NLC’s blog CitiesSpeak. **

Moms have gotten wind of NLC’s Cities Expanding Health Access for Children and Families initiative (CEHACF) and are telling mayors “thank you” for taking the lead on enrolling kids and families in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Our friends at MomsRising, a grass-roots network of moms and individuals united by the goal of developing a more family-friendly America, have called upon their membership in Dallas and Pittsburgh to sign thank you letters to show Mayor Mike Rawlings (Dallas) and Mayor Bill Peduto (Pittsburgh) support for making children’s health a local priority.

Cities across the U.S. are taking an active role in enrolling kids and families in Medicaid and CHIP. As part of the CEHACF initiative, NLC selected eight cities in July 2014 to receive grants up to $260,000 per city to support outreach and enrollment campaigns aimed at reducing the uninsured rate of children and families in their communities. Campaigns developed through the CEHACF initiative implement strategic outreach strategies, including:

  • Dedicated city campaign websites with information on how to access enrollment assistance;
  • Referral systems for enrollment assistance through United Way’s 2-1-1 and municipal 3-1-1 phone systems;
  • School partnerships to systematically identify children eligible for but not enrolled in insurance;
  • Onsite enrollment assistance provided at Women, Infants, and Children centers; public housing complexes; heating assistance provider offices and libraries; and
  • Targeted messaging and marketing campaigns utilizing city busses and vehicles, robocalls, paid and earned media, radio, information phone-a-thons and social media.

Most importantly, each campaign is championed by strong local leadership from mayors and other local elected officials. What is your mayor doing to take the lead on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment? Tweet @KidHealth_DC and use the hashtag #Cities4Health to let us know!

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.

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