Secretary Sebelius Announces Availability of $40 Million in Grants to Help Insure More Children

HHS Secretary, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Encouraged Community Organizations,
State and Local Governments to Apply
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the availability of up to $40
million in grants to help reach families whose children qualify but are not yet
enrolled in state Medicaid and Children`s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP).
Sebelius was joined for the announcement by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.
Colorado has been a leader in the effort to provide health insurance coverage to
more children.

The grants will help support President Obama`s work to ensure millions of
currently uninsured children across the country get the health care they need.
The funds are part of the new Children`s Health Insurance Program
Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) that President Obama signed as one of his first
acts upon assuming office.

"We know there are millions of children who are eligible for coverage but don`t
utilize their state health care programs," said Secretary Sebelius. "These
grants will help community organizations, tribal organizations, as well as
states and local governments reach out to children and families to ensure more
children get the health care they need and deserve."

"We`ve made covering kids a top priority in Colorado. Working in partnership
with community-based organizations like schools, childcare centers and
faith-based groups, we have dramatically increased outreach and enrollment
efforts and those efforts are paying off," said Governor Bill Ritter. "Since
2007, we`ve enrolled 67,000 more children in Medicaid and Colorado`s children`s
health program -- a 27 percent increase. This grant opportunity will be a great
help to states and communities that are working hard to ensure kids and families
are getting the health care they need."

Today`s solicitation is the first cycle of outreach funding under CHIPRA. The
new law provides a total of $100 million for outreach campaigns aimed at
reducing the number of low-income, uninsured children. The grants to states and
organizations will ultimately total $80 million with the remaining funds going
to other outreach efforts specified by the law. Today`s grants will be
administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

"States have been effective in enrolling over 30 million children in Medicaid
and more than 7 million children in CHIP, but there are still millions of
uninsured, low-income children who are not enrolled in these programs even
though they are eligible," said Cindy Mann, the director of the CMS Center for
Medicaid and State Operations. "We are looking forward to innovative grant
proposals ranging from grass roots efforts to reach eligible but uninsured
children to technology-driven initiatives to modernize and streamline enrollment
systems."

Applications for the first cycle of funding are available at
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=yh2NKRqVnRw4BJZHLR2BTKNMFShPLhx59jHGDdtvLv1fZPS36gsF!-723925807?oppId=48293&mode=VIEW.
Applications submitted electronically are due by Aug. 6, 2009. Applications
submitted by mail are due by Aug. 10, 2009. Grants will be awarded by Sept. 30,
2009. To apply for the grants, applicants must be:

* A state;
* A local government;
* An Indian tribe or tribal consortium or other tribal organization;
* A federal health safety net organization;
* A national, state, local, or community-based public or nonprofit private
organization, including those that use community health workers;
* A certified faith-based organization or consortium;
* An elementary or secondary school; or
* A consortium composed of two or more of these entities.

For more information about the outreach grants, contact CMS` Office of
Acquisition and Grants Management, Acquisition and Grants Group, C2-21-15
Central Building, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Md. 21244-1850, or by
e-mail at mary.greene@cms.hhs.gov.

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are
available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

HHS Press Office
202-690-6343

Copyright Business Wire 2009