In October 2008, 68,000 Kentucky children had no health insurance.  For many of these children, this meant that when they got sick, there were no prescription medicines and no doctor visits.  Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced his initiative to enroll more than half of those children in the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) by June 2010.  United Way of Kentucky (UWKY), in partnership with state government and other agencies, accepted the challenge to increase awareness and enrollment in the program.   

In our strategic plan, UWKY committed to addressing the issue by working closely with a group of our member United Ways.  In one of the initial strategies, we encouraged the use of local holiday programs for outreach.  The effort came to be known as “the Gift of Health”, and centered on placing KCHIP promotional post cards in holiday food baskets and Christmas “Angel Tree” packages as another way to target low income parents.  Other activities included an outreach booth at the Kentucky State Fair, training for agencies that interface with low income families and providing dedicated volunteers and computers to take applications at local EITC sites.  UWKY invested in the production of KCHIP promotional materials and their distribution to school districts, health departments and other community organizations.  In late 2009, we celebrated a major milestone by surpassing the Governor’s goal more than six months in advance of the deadline.  Through local United Way efforts, such as United Way of the Ohio Valley’s “Love for Children: Operation KCHIP Sign-up”, the number of uninsured children is still coming down. 

Today, we continue to work on behalf of Kentucky’s kids by providing KCHIP information to 2-1-1 call centers, funded agencies, health care providers, social workers and other community partners.  UWKY is a participating member of the Regional KCHIP Coalition, a collaborative of organizations from Louisville and the surrounding counties.  The coalition is seeking out and enrolling the remaining uninsured in a 16-county area, which covers a population of 1.2 million Kentuckians.

According to Coalition data, out of the original estimate of 68,000 Kentucky children, only 12,000 remain uninsured as of November 2010.  UWKY will continue to reach out to these families, in partnership with our member United Ways around the State, to assure that no child in Kentucky will go without medical treatment due to lack of coverage.