Aug. 20--A new campaign to insure children in the state launched Thursday. Wisconsin is one of six states participating in an initial roll-out of the national health coverage campaign, which is led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The campaign will recruit athletic coaches at 20 high schools around Wisconsin, as well as community groups such as the Boys and Girls Club, youth soccer, and the United Way, to get the word out to families eligible for state or federal health insurance programs. The campaign hopes to catch the estimated 5 million children who are uninsured in the country by targeting them at school physicals and sports events. HHS will also air radio spots at youth sporting events throughout the state and have community partners hand out fliers about the children's health insurance program and badgercareplus.org"BadgerCare Plus.
Children need to have an annual school checkup to participate in intramural and team sports, so it's an effective way for coaches to identify those without health insurance, state Medicaid director Jason Helgerson said at a news conference at the Don and Sallie Davis Boys and Girls Club on S. 24th St.
"We think this is a golden opportunity to find those children," he said.
Though more than 230,000 people have enrolled in Wisconsin's BadgerCare program since its 2008 launch, 3% of children in the state still lack insurance, Helgerson said. Many of those youngsters and their families actually qualify for insurance but their parents don't know they are eligible. A family of four that earns roughly $44,000 a year is eligible for BadgerCare, he said.
Health insurance is also important for keeping children in sports, said Cristal Thomas, regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services. Many parents keep their children out of athletics because they cannot pay for annual physicals or medical care if their children get injured, she said.
To see if you are eligible for BadgerCare Plus, call (800) 362-3002 or visit badgercareplus.org
-----
To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544).