Fw: ILLINOIS PUSH FOR VACCINES

[Guest guest]

: STATE GIVING KIDS

: HEALTH PROGRAM A

: SHOT IN ARM

:

: By Cornelia Grumman

: Tribune Staff Writer

: April 13, 1999

:

: Admitting " disappointment " over the state's

: record in getting children of low-income

: families enrolled in a program that provides

: them free or reduced medical coverage,

: Gov. on Monday announced

: an intensified, $1 million statewide campaign

: to sign up thousands more.

:

: " ly I've been very disappointed with

: KidCare, " said of the federal-state

: program that former Gov. Jim Edgar

: launched a year ago. " We haven't been

: disappointed so much with the goals of the

: program, but we've been very disappointed

: with the way we've been able to sign kids

: up for the program. "

:

: Beginning Tuesday, said the state

: would kick off a new billboard and

: public-transportation poster campaign, air

: more radio advertisements and enlist the

: help of unions, area chambers of

: commerce, community health centers and

: others to sign up working poor.

:

: Health centers and private insurers will be

: paid $50 for every approved KidCare

: application. The Pastor's Network, which

: represents 127 churches, also has agreed to

: reach children in its congregations.

:

: And thousands of volunteers will man the

: 591 Chicago Public Schools on report-card

: pickup days Wednesday and Thursday to

: help eligible families fill out applications.

:

: " If children do not receive regular checkups,

: if children do not go for the vision and

: hearing, the dental care, if children do not

: have eyeglasses, obviously there's going to

: be a direct, adverse academic impact in the

: classroom, " said Chicago schools chief

: Vallas.

:

: Vallas said he was encouraged by a new

: application form that has been simplified

: from five pages to 2 1/2 pages.

:

: " The old application form looked like a

: tax-return form, " Vallas said jokingly. " We

: used to advise people to go to H & R Block

: to register. "

:

: Vallas and others conceded this

: complication contributed to a

: less-than-successful first attempt to sign up

: thousands of parents at last fall's Chicago

: Public Schools report card pickup day,

: where 80 percent of the more than 10,000

: applications were rejected.

:

: Hannah Rosenthal, Midwest regional

: director for the U.S. Department of Health

: and Human Services, pledged her entire

: 50-member staff to work this week in the

: schools to help families fill out the simplified

: KidCare applications.

:

: made the announcement at the

: R. Center, flanked by Vallas,

: Rosenthal and religious, medical and

: business leaders, as well as state Sen.

: Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), one of the

: authors of the state's KidCare legislation,

: who earlier this year called its

: implementation " horrendous. "

:

: Between 200,000 and 400,000 children of

: working poor families in Illinois are believed

: to be uninsured. To date, only 30,000 are

: enrolled in the $117 million KidCare

: program, and nearly 26,000 of those were

: enrolled automatically last spring with a few

: keystrokes of a computer.

:

: Since the program was expanded in August

: to cover an additional 208,000 children,

: requiring families to fill out the cumbersome

: five-page application, only 2,600 have been

: approved.

:

: A family of four making less than $31,000 a

: year can qualify.

:

: Part of the problem has been something that

: often accompanies new government

: programs: the thinking that once the plan is

: devised and announced, the work is done.

:

: But the real work, according to advocates

: such as Robyn Gabel of the Illinois

: Maternal and Child Health Coalition, comes

: with the many details that must follow

: kickoffs. And in the case of KidCare, such

: details have been virtually ignored--until

: now.

:

: For one thing, no extra staff members were

: hired to handle the applications. And staff

: members that normally processed Medicaid

: applications for the lowest income families

: often rejected a KidCare application or

: wrongly asked for additional information

: because they did not fully understand the

: different rules.

:

: " The program got started in October, during

: the transition period between

: administrations, and it really didn't get the

: attention that it needed, " said , adding

: that he did not believe Edgar " dropped the

: ball. "

:

: State Department of Public Aid Director

: Ann Patla said the number of people

: processing applications has been vastly

: expanded. This month, they also are

: undergoing additional training.

:

: " We had maybe a dozen staff or so when

: we arrived here in January. We now have

: 63 staff, going up to 95 and plans for more

: to handle the volume we're anticipating, " she

: said.

:

: Patla, who administers KidCare for the

: state, said her goal is to have 40,000

: children and pregnant women signed up by

: June, and at least 80,000 a year from now.

:

:

:

:

: ***************************************************************

: Karin Schumacher

: Vaccine Information & Awareness (VIA)

: