Week designated to sign up keiki for medical insurance
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer
A major outreach effort begins today to sign up an estimated 14,000 Hawai'i children who are eligible but unregistered for free medical insurance coverage under state programs.
"Kids Health Insurance Week" is a project of the Hawai'i Primary Care Association, and part of a national initiative called the Covering Kids Back-to-School campaign.
"Currently we estimate there are at least 22,000 uninsured children in our Islands, and approximately 14,000 are eligible for free health insurance through the state's QUEST and Medicaid Fee-for-Service programs," said project director Barbara Luksch.
"But many families don't think they qualify because they mistakenly assume they have to be on public assistance or welfare.
"In reality, a family of four could have working parents and an annual income of close to $41,000 a year, and their children would still qualify for free health insurance."
Luksch said families can call 275-2000 on O'ahu and 1-877-275-6569 on the Neighbor Islands to find out if they qualify. The three-year program is financed by a $981,429 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Already a variety of pilot projects has enrolled more than 4,000 children, but informing people about the availability of the insurance has been difficult because of a lack of accurate information about the eligible children, Luksch said.
As a result, an additional grant of $175,854 from the Hawai'i Medical Service Association is helping to create a reliable database on the children who are uninsured.
"Since July 1st of 2000, the state expanded its children's programs to include more children from working families and immigrant children, but no one knows about these programs, so enrollment has been slow," Luksch added.
Even if the adults in an immigrant family aren't eligible for coverage (immigrants in the United States less than five years are not eligible for QUEST), their children are, she said. By children, she means those 18 years of age and under.
"People may get a little nervous because this is free, from the government," she said, "but this does not affect or jeopardize their visa status or application for citizenship in any way."
About 77,000 Hawai'i children are covered through state insurance programs. Some tobacco settlement money is being used to cover medical care for these children, Luksch said.
