In June, Kansas Action for Children launched a statewide conversation about how to address the growing number of uninsured children in Kansas. While the nation, as a whole, is seeing a decrease in the rate of uninsured kids, the rate of uninsured children in Kansas has been climbing.

The conversation kicked off June 4 with a Children's Health Coverage Summit in Overland Park. The Summit focused on best practices in other states and new opportunities — created by the federal reauthorization of CHIP — to insure more eligible but unenrolled Kansas children through HealthWave (the state's Medicaid and CHIP insurance program for children).

Following the Summit, KAC convened a group of stakeholders to further study the options to improve and simplify HealthWave coverage for uninsured children. The working group released its recommendations Dec. 1. Click here to download the recommendations report.

Click on the links below to download materials from the June 4 Summit presenters:
Overview of Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA)
Liz Arjun | State Health Policy Analyst, Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families 

Tools, Incentives and Strategies to Boost Enrollment
Tricia Brooks | Senior Fellow, Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families

State Example: Retention in Louisiana
Ruth Kennedy | LaCHIP Director & Medicaid Deputy Director, Louisiana Dept. of Health & Hospitals

State Example: Iowa’s Plan to Cover all Kids
Carrie Fitzgerald | Senior Health Policy Associate, Child and Family Policy Center