AMSA is working with the Childrens's Defense Fund and Covering Kids to insure eligible children through CHIP. It isn't difficult to get started. Learn about the program and how you can make a difference in your community.

Take Action: Join the CHIP Effort

Join the Effort to Insure America's Children. It isn't difficult and we will help you get started.

Med Students Can Play A Key Role in Enrolling Uninsured Children

In three years since the passage of CHIP, only 2.5 million children have been enrolled. While many resources have been invested in media campaigns and simplifying the enrollment process, the remaining challenges are to go out into communities, identify the remaining six million eligible uninsured children and help their families go through the enrollment process. Medical student volunteers can play a significant role in reaching these families by initiating creative outreach efforts to find and enroll eligible children. CHIP will not be successful unless we are able to engage coalitions of community-based organizations, student groups, religious leaders, and the business community in an effort to reach out to families and educate them about the availability of health programs.

The strength of the medical student voice in your community can help put pressure on local policy makers as they make changes to the CHIP program, adjust the eligibility requirements, and continue implementation of the project. Look at the above barriers to enrollment in CHIP. It is our responsibility to be advocates for uninsured children by bringing attention to barriers to enrollment and changing our state policies.

Many individual state outreach coordinators indicate that another reason busy medical students are ideally suited to get involved is that they are within the system of medicine but also more likely to be activists regarding CHIP than busy physicians. They stated that some of the great ways to get involved was by placing students in Emergency Departments of major hospitals and working to enroll children in CHIP as they wait to be seen by a physician. In addition, they said that visits to physician offices and clinics to educate the staff about CHIP enrollment is a much needed resource. Each state has particular needs, so contacting your state's outreach coordinator is the best way to assess the needs of your community.

TAKE ACTION TO ENROLL CHILDREN IN CHIP & MEDICAID

Educate Yourself

Get informed about health insurance programs in your state. As you become more knowledgeable about these programs, consider the following questions:

• How many uninsured children live in your state or local region?
• What public programs exist to provide families with health insurance coverage for their children?
• Which children in your state/region are eligible for these programs?
• Which community agencies are working on outreach around CHIP?

Get Connected

• Identify your state's health agency or statewide CHIP & Medicaid outreach contact. A listing of state-by-state programs is available on CDF's Web site. You can find the outreach coordinators in your state here.
• Utilize the health/Medicaid agency, the outreach coordinators, community-based organizations, and advocates as sources of information about your state's outreach and enrollment efforts. Local community-based organizations will be able to assist you with identifying where to find families, as well as provide insight on the important issues within the community.
• Call your state outreach coordinator to find a state or local advocacy organizations that train volunteers to help families complete health insurance applications. These organizations may be able to provide training to student volunteers.
• Invite a representative from the state agency responsible for CHIP/Medicaid, or a community-based organization who is trained in completing your state application to assist you at your outreach events. The representative will be able to answer some of the more complicated questions families may have about eligibility, program benefits, and documentation.
• Be creative! Think of places in your community where you can reach lots of families and recruit volunteers to GO THERE to distribute information about CHIP and Medicaid. If you can think of innovative ways to present the information to families, DO IT.

Develop Partnerships Between Medical School and Community Organizations

• Have discussions with trusted teachers and professors about how they can assist you with spreading the word about CHIP and Medicaid. Invite an expert about immigrant health issues, welfare reform and Medicaid, or CHIP to speak to your medical school class.
• Encourage school administrators to address the importance of quality, preventive children's health care by encouraging students to develop community learning projects around health.
• Work with social, athletic, and health related school organizations and encourage their members to get involved. Spread the word by inserting flyers on the CHIP in the bulletins, newsletters and other publications of your school.
• Distribute flyers, brochures, and applications at school-sponsored events and other community events. Distribute information and applications in places where families work, play, and live. Include apartment buildings, childcare centers, health clinics, local businesses, and recreation centers in your outreach efforts, and seek out a partnership with them.
• Host a "sign-up" day at your medical school or at a clinic students are familiar with. Make a strong effort to reach out to families in the community that may or may not use your school facility and educate them about CHIP.
• Post flyers, posters, and outreach brochures (all available from the Children's Defense Fund) in your field placement site. Talk to families that you encounter in the clinic or hospital rotation and inquire if they have health coverage for their children.
• Many medical schools have community health vans. Inquire if you can distribute information to the community through this service.
• Partner with religious institutions, health advocates local elected officials, the media and local businesses to create a Local Day of Social Action. Plan a grand event in your community to help spread the word about the importance of proper health coverage. This type of event will help put pressure on the state to make appropriate changes in the CHIP and Medicaid programs.

For information or assistance in TAKING ACTION!

Children's Defense Fund