US Sen. Bob Casey was joined by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the US Dept. of Health & Human Services; Dr. Arlene Ackerman, superintendent of the School District; Sarah Martinez-Helfman, executive director of the Eagles Youth Partnership; Timothy McKenna, principal of Furness HS; and Leonard Weaver from the Philadelphia Eagles for a pep rally to connect more of Philadelphia’s children and youth to health insurance.
Casey invited the group together to come to Furness to discuss new initiatives underway to connect kids to coverage in Philadelphia through a focus on health coverage as a key to success in school, athletics and beyond.
“Good health is critical to a child’s success inside and outside the classroom; yet thousands of kids in Pennsylvania often go without needed health care because they are uninsured,” said the Senator.
Said Sebelius, “No student should have to miss school, or miss out on sports and other activities because they’re not getting the care they need to stay healthy. That’s why I’ve issued the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge, and today with the Eagles Youth Partnership, Public Citizens for Children and Youth and the School District of Philadelphia all stepping up to the challenge, we see that Pennsylvania is leading the way in the fight to get kids covered.”
Ackerman stressed the importance of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, calling it “a critically important resource for those families who do not qualify for Medicaid health coverage and cannot afford private coverage.”
Casey was a strong supporter of the law that expanded CHIP, which was signed into law in February 2009. CHIP began as a state program in Pennsylvania when it was signed into law by the Senator’s father, Gov. Robert P. Casey; it became a model for the national program that now provides health care coverage to more than 14 million American children.
At the event, the Eagles Youth Partnership accepted the Secretary’s challenge, making them the first major athletic team to do so. They will support the outreach and enrollment challenge through the Eagles Eye Mobile, which aims to increase the number of children who receive vision care.
As of September 2010, Philadelphia County has 28,261 children enrolled in CHIP. Pennsylvania has an 85.9% participation rate in CHIP and Medicaid, compared to 81.8% nationally. However, Pennsylvania has one of the largest numbers of eligible but uninsured children (129,000 out of 5 million nationally).
Philadelphia Public Record – October 22, 2010 – Read article online