The Treasury Department's traditional mission has nothing to do with health insurance for poor children. Nor do those of the Agriculture, Education or Housing and Urban Development departments. But the Clinton administration wants those agencies to go beyond their mission statements and join the Department of Health and Human Services in a crusade to get uninsured children covered.
Treasury, Agriculture, Education and HUD are gearing up to locate uninsured children and get them enrolled in federal health insurance programs, Vice President Al Gore announced Tuesday. The interagency effort shows, he said, how the federal government's far-flung departments can help each other in an era of budget restraint, downsizing and reinvention.
"This is an example of how we can use limited federal resources more creatively to ensure that families get the information and ultimately the care that their children need," Gore said.
While HHS is working through state health agencies to identify the estimated 4 million children who are eligible to receive Medicaid but are not enrolled, the other agencies will spread the word on Medicaid and the new State Children's Health Insurance Program through different outlets.
The Agriculture and Education departments will encourage states to sign families up for federal health insurance through school lunch programs, which serve 15 million children nationwide. HUD will send information to housing authorities and other low-income housing programs. The Treasury Department is sending a memorandum to 158,000 employees who oversee the earned income tax credit and other low-income programs to inform poor families of federal health insurance options.
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