Clinton: Insure Kids' Health

President Clinton announced a new plan Tuesday to bring school officials into the effort to get more poor kids signed up for a government insurance program.

In a speech to the American Academy of Pediatrics, Mr. Clinton says it's "inexcusable" that Congress approved money to insure 5 million such kids - but only 1 million are currently enrolled.

And another 2 million children could be insured by Medicaid - if only their parents would sign them up.

So Mr. Clinton is directing education and health officials to develop ways of enrolling uninsured children in federal health insurance for the poor through their schools.

Mr. Clinton, in a speech to the American Academy of Pediatrics, announced a campaign to reach children eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. The program permits states to offer Medicaid or other insurance to children in low-income working families who are not poor enough to qualify for traditional Medicaid.

Mr. Clinton told the pediatrics academy, "Because of all these efforts, America is a better place for children; they're healthier and safer than they were seven years ago. Infant mortality is down, drug abuse is down, teen pregnancy is down, juvenile crime is down. America, itself, is stronger, more prosperous, more confident."

About half of the more than 10 million children who qualify for the programs are unenrolled, a White House statement said.

Some participating states, including Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey, already are using schools to enroll children in the programs.

More than 1,500 schools in 49 states that were asked in August to participate have said they would join the Insure Kids Now campaign, a program launched in February to sign up children for CHIP, the White House said.

This week, the secretaries of health and human services and education will send information to state agencies explaining how schools and state governments can use CHIP funds to pay for school outreach programs.

Mr. Clinton planned to sign an executive order instructing the secretaries of health and human services, education and agriculture to report to him in six months on how to institutionalize the school outreach programs.

Other new recruiting measures include:

• Informing grandparents about their grandchildren's eligibility through annual Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment notices.
• Informing families who seek help filing their tax returns through the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program.
• Funding a $9.5 million partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation that will research outreach techniques for getting health care to poor children, with a focus on minority youngsters and those with special medical needs.