MPCA Preparing to Launch Children’s Health Insurance Enrollment Initiative

by: Phillip J. Bergquist, CHIPRA Program Manager, MPCA

There are many reasons 150,965 of Michigan’s children don’t have health insurance coverage – parents have lost their jobs, employer-sponsored coverage has been eliminated or it simply costs too much.

Yet thousands of families are eligible for low-cost or free health insurance for their children and haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity.

An overwhelming group of these eligible families think they can’t get health insurance coverage because they make too much money.

Wrong! The majority of children covered by MIChild, Michigan’s Childrens Health Insurance Program, come from working families. In fact, a family of four making up to $41,000.00 a year may be eligible.

Misconceptions like this one and other barriers are keeping Michigan families and children from taking advantage of the health insurance coverage they need … that’s where we come in.

MPCA is preparing to launch a bold, grassroots initiative in communities across the State of Michigan to find these eligible children and get them enrolled! Working through the Community HealthCorps program MPCA will bring Enrollment Specialists to community centers, schools, migrant camps, churches, homeless shelters and Community Health Centers from Marquette to Detroit to work with local organizations and get children covered.

We want to impact the lives of 12,000 children in the next two years and hope this movement spreads beyond our program to bring the number of uninsured children in Michigan to O.