Covering Indian Country – February 2020

February 2020

Spotlight: Connecting Kids to Coverage

To increase the number of eligible children and adolescents who are signed up for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign and Grants Program in 2009.

The following year, CMS began offering Connecting Kids to Coverage grants focused on outreach and enrollment support for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children. Funding to enroll and retain eligible AI/AN children in Medicaid and CHIP is currently authorized under the Helping Ensure Access for Little Ones, Toddlers and Hopeful Youth by Keeping Insurance Delivery Stable Act (HEALTHY KIDS).

CMS awards nearly $6 million in funding for 9 new Connecting Kids to Coverage HEALTHY KIDS AI/AN 2020 Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreements

Recently, CMS announced 9 new Connecting Kids to Coverage HEALTHY KIDS AI/AN 2020 Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreement awards in 6 states. These awards are authorized under HEALTHY KIDS with the goal of increasing the participation of eligible, uninsured AI/AN children in Medicaid and CHIP. Total funding for the 9 cooperative agreement awards is just under $6 million. These awards have a 3-year performance period.

With these latest awards, CMS has now made available nearly $216 million in funding to 294 eligible entities through the Connecting to Kids program since its inception in 2009. The Connecting Kids to Coverage HEALTHY KIDS AI/AN 2020 outreach and enrollment awards will provide critical support for the effective and targeted strategies needed to enroll and retain eligible, uninsured AI/AN children in Medicaid and CHIP.

Compared with their uninsured peers, kids with health care coverage are more likely to get regular checkups, do well in school, and become healthy, productive adults. Yet some kids lack coverage because their families remain unaware of the available coverage options for which they might qualify.

More outreach and enrollment assistance

Need help planning activities that connect AI/AN children in your community to health care coverage? Outreach and Enrollment Fundamentals (PDF, 952 KB, 15 p) includes tips for engaging with communities, creating messages that resonate with families, building partnerships, and more. Other culturally relevant resources to help people get health care coverage can be found on the CMS enrollment assistance webpage.

February: Heart health

Health observances

Promoting dental care for kids

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, an ideal time to highlight how dental care can help youngsters reach their full potential.

Kids with good oral health perform better in school than students with tooth decay. And children with dental coverage are more likely to visit an oral health care provider for regular checkups.

The CMS fact sheet, My Health: Dental Care for Children (PDF, 931 KB, 2 p), explains what to expect during a preventive dental care visit. It also encourages people to explore the dental coverage options available through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Indian Health Service, and the Marketplace.

Improving Native women’s heart health

American Heart Month is observed each February. And this year, National Wear Red Day—which raises awareness of women’s heart health—falls on February 7.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women are 20–30% more likely than non-Native women to die from heart disease. Additionally, data from communities in 3 geographic regions suggest Native women are more likely to die from heart disease than Native men.

NHLBI highlights strategies to address the disparity, which were discussed during a convening on Native women’s heart health. The strategies include:

• engaging young AI/AN women and girls in interventions focused on long-term wellness
• recruiting traditional female leaders to guide and implement heart health programs
• linking data to personal stories of people who have struggled with heart disease
• encouraging pregnant women to make healthy lifestyle changes
• focusing on how different foods make us feel, rather than on calorie counts

To learn more about the convening and other initiatives to reduce disparities in Indian Country, check out NHLBI Research and Training Highlights in Native American Health.

Additional resources

Indigenous food sovereignty enhances nutritional health

Promoting food sovereignty and increasing access to traditional foods can improve nutrition and address health disparities in Native communities. The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development special topic issue, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in North America (PDF, 21 MB, 293 p), highlights efforts in these areas to enhance nutritional health.

Sponsored by the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University, the issue features grassroots voices, commentaries, and peer-reviewed papers on how foodways connect to culture and community resilience.

NCUIH offers webinars on environmental health

The webinar series, Intersections of Urban Indian Health and Environmental Health: Data, Programming, and Partnerships, is now available online. The series features 2 webinars hosted by the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH).

The first webinar, Introduction to Urban Environmental Health and Community Partnerships, covers contamination of culturally significant products, climate change resiliency planning, and more. The target audience includes urban Indian health clinicians, program coordinators, family programming staff, community outreach professionals, and administrators.

The second webinar, Navigating Environmental Health Data, explains how to use national data sources in conjunction with state and local data sources. This webinar is aimed at urban Indian organization grant writers, program coordinators, epidemiologists, research staff, and administrators.