Five nonprofit organizations and community groups in Texas, including three in the Houston area, have been awarded a combined $4.78 million by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to boost efforts to enroll the state's nearly three-quarters of a million uninsured children, the federal agency announced on Monday.
Texas leads the nation not only in the number of overall uninsured but also in the number of children under age 18 who lack health insurance coverage. More than one in 10 Texas children 18 and younger remain uninsured, according to an U.S. Census analysis and other studies.
The awards to Texas organizations are designed to get more eligible children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly known as CHIP.
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The Texas groups receiving funds are Gateway to Care, a Houston-based collaborative assisting in access to health care; Lone Star Legal Aid, also of Houston; Children's Defense Fund-Texas in Bellaire; the Bexar County Hospital District's University Health System in San Antonio; and the Community Council of Greater Dallas.
The jumpstart to get connect children to coverage so they can get health care is seen as crucial to "help them grow into healthy adults," said Vikki Wachino, deputy administrator and director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, in a phone call with reporters on Monday.
She added that while progress is being made to make sure the nation's children have access to health insurance, gaps remain.
Among those who continue to slip through coverage cracks are teenagers, and Native American and Hispanic children, she said, adding that children in rural areas also often do without.
Thirty-eight awards will be given in 27 states, including Texas. A total of $32 million is being given as part of the ongoing Connecting Kids to Coverage effort.
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