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• State Health Policy

Insuring America's Children: States Leading the Way

Due to the growth of public programs, the percent of children without health insurance has declined consistently reaching in 2008 its lowest level since official data have been collected. Nonetheless more than nine million children remain uninsured and many are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Insuring America’s Children: States Leading the Way (IAC), a multi-year grantmaking strategy of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, provides financial and technical support to state-based advocacy organizations with the ultimate goal of attaining health coverage for all children.

Launched in 2007, IAC includes the Finish Line and Narrative Communications projects which provide different levels of funding and technical assistance for state-based advocacy groups working to grow children’s health insurance coverage. The Finish Line Project provides multi-year support to organizations in nine states that are positioned to make significant advances in children's coverage. Finish Line grantees are supported by tailored technical assistance including policy analysis, communications support, and strategic counsel from the Center for Children and Families (CCF) at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute in partnership with Spitfire Strategies. IAC’s Narrative Communications Project provides limited grant support as well as training, peer-to-peer learning and targeted technical assistance to support the communications work of state-based advocacy organizations working to support children’s coverage

Mathematica’s evaluation of IAC aims to monitor the progress of the grantmaking strategy, identify effective advocacy activities, and inform decisionmakers in states and at the national level about promising coverage strategies and programs. During the first year of the evaluation, the project team conducted in-depth site visits to each of the Finish Line states to gather insights and perspectives on the issue of children’s health coverage and the environment for expansion in each state. Evaluation partners include the Center for Studying Health System Change and the Urban Institute.

Project Publications

“State-Based Advocacy as a Tool for Expanding Children’s Coverage: Lessons from Site Visits to Six IAC Grantee States. Evaluation Brief 1” (July 2010)
“Strategic Engagement of Policymakers Is Key to Advancing a Children’s Health Care Coverage Policy Agenda. Evaluation Brief 2” (July 2010)