Group on mission to insure eligible kids

DENVER - Senate Bill 211, an ambitious piece of legislation that sought to provide Colorado’s 180,000 uninsured kids with health care by 2010, was pared to a shell of itself this year because of concerns that it would cost too much.

Rather than wait for legislators to craft a cheaper solution, though, a private nonprofit has taken on what officials did not want the state government to do. The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved is working with volunteers to go into poor communities, find children who are eligible for Medicaid or the Colorado Child Health Plan and sign them up for the government-run plans.

Molly Markert, the coalition executive director who is also in charge of the KidzBlitz program, acknowledges that volunteers are not likely to find every uninsured child in the state. But two pilot programs through Arapahoe County churches netted a surprising 100 enrollees earlier this summer, and Markert plans to expand the drive throughout the state later this year, putting special emphasis on El Paso County.

Her idea is to work through faith-based organizations, believing they have some of the best contacts with the needy.

“It’s such an opportunity for people of faith to put their faith in action, and if anything, that’s the attraction for the El Paso County community,” she said.

Nearly 50 percent of the Colorado children eligible for government-subsidized insurance do not take advantage of it, Markert said. That leaves them without any preventive care and often creates overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms, which become the de facto primarycare providers when minor illnesses that could have been treated by a doctor grow worse.

Senate Bill 211, in its original form, would have funded a team of state workers to enroll the kids and would also have raised the household income level required for eligibility so that more children and pregnant mothers could sign up for the plans. Saying there was no room in the budget for the bill’s $61.5 million price tag when tens of thousands of new children became enrolled, the General Assembly scaled back the legislation to simply ease some paperwork restrictions and set up a task force to examine the goals.

Despite that, Markert has worked closely with the state. Outreach coordinators for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing have been training the peer navigators who are going into the communities.

Joanne Lindsay, who has served as a conduit from HCPF to the coalition, said state officials are not worried about the cost if the program is successful. Gov. Bill Ritter, she pointed out, has a goal of getting all children insured by 2010.

“It’s about priorities,” Lindsay said of any needed budgetary changes.

The sponsors of Senate Bill 211, Democratic Sen. Bob Hagedorn of Aurora and Democratic Rep. Anne McGihon of Denver, praised the KidzBlitz program for keeping the spirit of their bill alive. Though McGihon noted that volunteers won’t have as many resources as government workers, and Hagedorn said he plans to introduce a similar bill next year, both said they believe the program can make a difference.

These volunteers “really understand the importance of health care to young people,” Hagedorn said. “I think people are sensitive to the cost that any kind of health care expansion would have, but they feel that covering children is important.”

While El Paso County is a target of the program, no plans are in place yet, Markert said. She and volunteers are meeting with community health care leaders and must secure assistance from the county department of human services for when families bring in applications, she said.

Linda Crawfis, public information manager for the county human services department, said she had not heard of KidzBlitz, but she noted that when the department undertook a similar drive about six years ago, it signed up more new kids than any other county in the state.

According to 2000 statistics, about 11.5 percent of El Paso County residents under age 18 — or about 17,000 kids — were without health insurance, she said.

Crawfis expressed concern, though, that few doctors in the area will see families on government assistance.

“The real story in this is the low response from the medical providers,” she said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303)837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com.

DETAILS

Molly Markert, who leads the KidzBlitz program, plans to work with faith-based organizations to make connections with children who might be uninsured and eligible for government aid.