The Cherokee Nation was awarded a $1 million federal grant Monday to support efforts to increase the number of children enrolled in health coverage.
The grant was part of $32 million in Connecting Kids to Coverage grants awarded to 38 organizations in 27 states by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The funding is part of a national effort to get more eligible children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The grants are designed to support enrollment strategies including application assistance and targeted outreach, particularly in areas where access to coverage has been lagging, including among American Indians and children living in rural communities.
The Cherokee Nation has 15 employees who work inside the tribe’s health centers to register children for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
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The grant will allow for four additional coordinators to be hired as well as fund education programs on the benefits of health coverage within the tribe’s 14-county jurisdiction.
“Receiving this $1 million grant allows the Cherokee Nation to reach outside the walls of our health centers and into our communities to get more children signed up for health coverage,” Principal Chief Bill John Baker said. “Health has been the number one priority of this administration, and we want to target more of our Cherokee families who may not realize they qualify or think they need these programs, to give them more options.”
The Cherokee Nation has 22 percent of children, or 7,000, who do not have health coverage. The state average is 9 percent, Baker said.
Oklahoma saw a 1.7 percent increase in the number of children enrolled in either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, going from 698,690 in fiscal year 2014 to 710,552 in FY 2015.
“Today’s awards will help continue the remarkable progress states and community organizations have made in enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP,” said Vikki Wachino, deputy administrator and director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. “CMS is excited to support innovative strategies to enroll children and address disparities in coverage that have kept some children from obtaining the benefits of Medicaid and CHIP.”
