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Model Application Template for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program

Effective Date:

Approval Date: 13 Connection. State-level Title V staff have also been involved since last fall in the planning of Kids Connection.

Current sites of presumptive eligibility for pregnant women will be recruited and trained to take applications for children through age 18 years. In order for children to access Medicaid/Kids Connection through a ‘single entry’ point, the presumptive eligibility form will be changed to accomplish two purposes. It will be changed to a two-page application for presumptive eligibility and can be, if the family so chooses, the application for Medicaid/Kids Connection. Current outstationed eligibility sites will also receive the eligibility information to enable them to take applications children though age 18.

Because many of the current presumptive eligibility providers are Title V- funded, they are already aware of Kids Connection and are preparing to broaden the marketing of their program to find uninsured children where they live.

A work group charged with developing a plan for presumptive eligibility activities convened as a result of public Kids Connection team meetings. This work group has made recommendations to the Nebraska Health and Human Services System on possible partners for outreach. These recommendations include the following agencies or organizations that could provide outreach to the potentially eligible: community action agencies, child care providers, refugee resettlement sites; human service agencies, homeless/runaway shelters, domestic violence/emergency shelters, family preservation and support teams, reproductive health clinics, faith communities, social security offices, employers, job service offices, employee assistance programs, WIC offices, Early Intervention service coordinators, community mental health providers, food pantries and distribution centers, soup kitchens, immunization clinics, child-serving recreational programs (Boy Scout/Girl Scout, YMCA, etc.), Head Starts and Early Head Starts, Child Care Food Program sponsors, minority advocacy programs, HUD housing authorities, county extension programs, community colleges, technical training programs, GED programs, juvenile court officers, school nurses, and parent/teacher organizations.

In addition to presumptive eligibility for children, Kids Connection - as a Medicaid expansion program - will also offer twelve-month continuous eligibility. This will ensure continuity of care for children and should improve access to care by assuring providers they will be paid for services for at least 12 months. This feature is supported by both provider groups and client advocacy groups.

Mail-in applications will continue. The feasibility and cost/benefit of phone-in applications, extended hours at eligibility offices, and other open access