WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both D-Mich., announced $1.2 million in grants to find and enroll children who are not insured but are eligible for insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Grants were issued by the Department of Health and Human Services under the CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) for outreach, enrollment and retention efforts aimed at providing uninsured children with coverage through programs they are eligible for.  The funds will be awarded in two grants totaling $1,208,119.

“As CHIP continues to help thousands of children across Michigan, many families who qualify for these benefits are not aware of the programs available to them,” said Stabenow. “These funds will help make sure we identify and enroll families with uninsured children in programs they qualify for, while at the same time putting people to work.  More than half of the state’s uninsured children come low-income families and are likely eligible for CHIP coverage.”

“Providing children with health care coverage through Medicaid or CHIP is money well spent,” Levin said.  “But first, we need to get them enrolled.  These grants will be used to help identify Michigan children who need health insurance coverage and get them enrolled in Medicaid or MI Child.” 

Michigan is currently home to an estimated 142,000 uninsured children.  As authorized in CHIPRA, grants were awarded to agencies that target geographic areas that have high incidence of eligible but uninsured children, particularly certain minority communities that have higher rates of eligible but uninsured children.  The Michigan Primary Care Association will be awarded $915,079 and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids will receive $293,040.