Health Care Coverage for Your Kids…Do You Have It?

By Knoxye Williams

Parents today have a lot of hard choices. Pay the phone bill…or pay the doctor. Fill the fridge…or fill a prescription. Healthcare costs have risen significantly over the last 15 years. State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)(1) reports that “nationwide, average costs paid by an employee for individual health insurance premiums have risen nearly eight times faster than average U.S. incomes.” But there is good news for Alabama’s families!

On February 4 of this year, President Obama signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), funding the nation’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for another four and one half years. ALL Kids, Alabama’s CHIP, is administered by the Alabama Department of Public Health, and provides low-cost, comprehensive healthcare coverage for eligible children under age 19. CHIPRA will allow ALL Kids to continue enrolling eligible uninsured children.

Cathy Caldwell, Director of the ALL Kids program said, “It definitely provides adequate federal funding for us to continue enrolling children. It is our goal to see that all children in Alabama have healthcare coverage.” Children with healthcare coverage are more likely to get preventive care through annual checkups, and dental and vision care. Further, they are more likely to receive proper medical care for common childhood illnesses like sore throats, ear aches and asthma.

ALL Kids shares an application form with SOBRA Medicaid and the Alabama Child Caring Program. The joint form allows one application to be considered for all three child health insurance programs. This eases the burden on the family because they do not have to try to determine the program for which their child may qualify. While eligibility is partly based on family size and income, a family of four can earn over $44,000 and still qualify.

There is no waiting list for ALL Kids. If approved, 12 months of continuous coverage begins on the first day of the next month after ALL Kids receives the application. Benefits provided by ALL Kids include doctor visits, check-ups and immunizations, prescriptions, vision and dental care, hospital and physician services, and mental health and substance abuse services. Benefit coverage is provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama through its preferred provider networks. Affordable premiums range from $50 to $100 per child, per year. Small co-pays may be required at the time of service, but there are never any co-pays for preventive services.

Families can apply online for these programs at www.insurealabama.org Parents can also visit the ALL Kids website at www.adph.org/allkids to get more information, follow the link to the on-line application or download and print out applications in both English and Spanish. Applications can be picked up at county health departments and many other health and community agencies. Families can also call ALL Kids Customer Service toll-free: 1-888-373-KIDS (5437) to request that an application be mailed to them.

Do you know of uninsured children in your area and want to do something about it but don’t know where to start? ALL Kids has Regional Coordinators available for support with outreach activities, presentations, and staff trainings. To find your Regional Coordinator, contact the ALL Kids administrative office toll free at 877-774-9521. You can also find this information on our website.

For more information, call ALL Kids toll-free: 1-888-373-KIDS (5437) Monday through Friday to talk to an ALL Kids Customer Service representative. You may also contact them by e-mail from the ALL Kids website at anytime.

1 At the Brink: Trends in America’s Uninsured 1994-2007, State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) at the University of Minnesota

Knoxye Williams is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for ALL Kids and has been with the program for over 10 years.