With all of the squabbles adults have engaged in over health-care reform, one can easily forget the debates’ most vulnerable elements — children and youth.

Over the last six months, Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) has been implementing The Student Health Insurance Enrollment and Renewal Initiative, its plan to ensure that uninsured South Philadelphia high schoolers receive free or low-cost assistance. The summer months have intensified the organization’s outreach to the parents and guardians of the students attending Edward W. Bok Technical High School, 1901 S. Ninth St.; Horace Furness High School, 1900 S. Third St.; and South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St.

The combined enrollment of the schools approaches 2,800, and PCCY, 1709 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., wants to enroll the majority of the uninsured students into either CHIP [Children’s Health Insurance Program] or Medicaid by next February. To do so, the organization, which next year will celebrate 30 years of advocacy for the children of Southeastern Pennsylvania, has instituted a number of means to sign up at least 60 percent of the aforementioned learners.

“We are targeting disproportionately uninsured students,” Colleen McCauley, PCCY’s health policy director, said. “Those students are usually older children and children from immigrant populations.”

Local high schools fit these criteria.

“All along, our goal has been to target South Philadelphia with this initiative,” she said. “It is flexible enough to be adding schools like Prep Charter [1928 Point Breeze Ave.] and GAMP [Girard Academic Music Program, 22nd and Ritner streets], and we can certainly add every child, not just high schoolers, in a family.”

Flyers, one of the group’s chief resources, reflect the diversity of the schools’ populations. Each bears PCCY’s number following the message “If a youth in your house needs health insurance” in English, Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Korean and Spanish. Distribution has taken PCCY to nail salons, Mexican restaurants, Asian eateries, Mummers clubs, community-based organizations and all five of South Philadelphia’s libraries.

“People often need to hear stuff at least three times, so we go to places where parents are,” McCauley said.

Funding came through for PCCY from the Fund for Philadelphia’s Children in February, with outreach beginning shortly afterwards. McCauley noted the additional money allowed the organization to hire an Spanish speaker, as well as develop additional materials. The last few months have helped McCauley and her colleagues to prepare for what they hope will be a busy 2010-’11 school year. The School District of Philadelphia’s summer session ended July 28, and PCCY representatives attended the commencement at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to circulate information.

“We are making a summer push. I would have liked to have more children enrolled by now, but I am not discouraged,” McCauley, who also sent 60 flyers to Southern last week, said.

“We have worked closely with Principal [Otis] Hackney [III] since he took over,” she added of the new head of the embattled school whose recent principal, LaGreta Brown, resigned in May amidst investigations on her qualifications.

The school has the largest population of the three initiative recipients, so McCauley, who is not aware of how many of the students from the three institutions lack coverage, knows she and her dozen staff members will need to “keep up the drumbeat.” Doing so will mean continued attendance at faculty meetings, increased notifications in churches and more public service announcements. McCauley recently taped a PSA scheduled to run 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21 during WPVI-TV Channel 6’s Puerto Rican Panorama.

Lilian Harris, of the 300 block of Christian Street first heard about the initiative during a Bok May graduation/prom meeting. The mother of senior-to-be Jaliyl Alexander, 17, said learning of the insurance could not have come at a more opportune time.

“I am most definitely satisfied,” Harris said. “I completed my phone application within a week of the meeting, and my son’s coverage became effective Sunday. Now, he can go for a physical in time for school.”

Once parents and guardians have learned about acquiring insurance for their relatives, they call PCCY to complete a phone application.

“Families can do a hard copy application, but most of our applications are done over the phone,” McCauley, who has spent 20 years as a nurse and nine with PCCY, said, adding she and her staff use the interpreatation service Language Line to negate the conversational barriers.

“Once people complete their applications, CHIP and Medicaid have 45 days to determine eligibility,” McCauley said. “Following the evaluation period, coverage should kick in relatively quickly.”

When calling 215-563-5848 extension 19, callers must answer questions concerning their addresses, the number of people living in a household, social security numbers and monthly incomes.

“We have a high percentage of approvals. Nobody makes too much money to receive help,” McCauley said. “Youths can receive assistance up to age 19.”

The two primary forms of assistance differ slightly. Medicaid covers families with the lowest incomes for free. CHIP also provides a free product for families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of two, it would be $29,140, with an incremental increase of $6,545 for each additional person, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Hunab Services website.

Families with income levels above that have three low-cost sub-CHIP levels, with parents paying an average of $43, $60 and $68 a month per child. Those at and above 300 percent of poverty pay full price, an average of $195 per month per child. With these low cost options, families pay $5 to $15 for visits to a primary care physician, $10 to $25 for a specialist, $6 to $18 for prescriptions and $25 to $50 for emergency room visits.

President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — scheduled to take full effect by Jan. 1, 2014 — will not significantly alter the coverage the South Philadelphia figures will receive through this initiative. According to a state Department on Insurance study, Philadelphia County includes more than 26,000 uninsured children, the largest amount among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

“It’s odd that so many people can have nice incomes yet have no access to health insurance,” McCauley said. “We want to provide help, possibly expanding into elementary and middle schools. We want South Philadelphia’s children, youth, parents and guardians to have peace of mind.”  For more information, visit www.childrenfirstpa.org.

South Philadelphia Review – August 5, 2010 – Read article online.