Health Topics

• Data Development
• Health Care Reform
• Health Information Technology
• Medicaid and CHIP
• Medicare
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• Payment Policies and Costs
• Public and Population Health
• Quality and Health System Functioning
• State Health Policy

Covering Kids & Families

The large and increasing number of low-income children and adults without health insurance is a source of national concern. A majority of the more than eight million uninsured children in the U.S. are eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but are not enrolled. Most come from homes where at least one parent works full time. Many Americans are not aware of the health coverage programs available for children in working families. The same holds true for adults who may qualify for health care under these federal programs.

Between 2002 and 2008, Mathematica and its partners, Health Management Associates and the Urban Institute, evaluated Covering Kids & Families (CKF), a major initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. CKF supported state and local coalitions of public and private sector partners in 45 states in efforts to expand enrollment of eligible children and families in Medicaid and CHIP. 

This long-term, large-scale evaluation focused on:

• Documenting and assessing the strategies and actions of CKF coalitions
• Assessing the effectiveness of coalitions in conducting outreach; simplifying the application process; and coordinating efforts by state, federal, and private insurers to expand coverage
• Measuring progress on CKF's central goal—expanding enrollment and retention of eligible individuals in Medicaid and CHIP 
• Assessing whether CKF strategies are sustained after foundation funding ends

The evaluation provided extensive formative feedback to CKF grantees and the foundation about the challenges to implementing the program and achieving increased enrollment as well as summative feedback on what increases enrollment and retention, and assessments of the sustainability of the program after the funding ended. It drew on extensive primary data collection in a web-based grantee reporting system, site visits, focus groups, web-based coalition surveys, and repeated telephone surveys of grantees and Medicaid and CHIP directors.