Child Nutrition Sign-on & Secretary's Challenge

Dear Partners,                                            

We wanted to follow-up with you on two important issues.

Sign-ons Needed for Child Nutrition Reauthorization Letter

As we explained in our alert last Friday, NEACH is co-sponsoring a sign-on letter with the New England Consortium (NEC) that urges Congress to act swiftly and pass a strong child nutrition reauthorization bill. The letter asks the New England delegation in the House of Representatives to work with leadership to ensure that a final bill is passed and ready for the President's signature by September 30, 2010, when the current law expires.

Please click here to sign your organization on to this letter. Also, please forward this alert or our previous one on this issue to your larger networks if you have yet to do so. All sign-ons are due by 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, September 9. If you have any questions, please contact Maia Fedyszyn at mfedyszyn@communitycatalyst.org or (617) 275-2871.

Secretary's Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge

Also last Friday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius held a press event to urge leaders from across government and the private sector to join the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge. The Secretary's Challenge is to enroll the nearly five million uninsured children eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) over the next five years.

NEACH enthusiastically supports the Secretary's efforts and has formally accepted the Challenge. We've done this because we believe, just as the Secretary does, that as the nation moves forward with health insurance reform for all Americans, children do not have to wait. Medicaid and CHIP together provide a vital opportunity to extend coverage to millions of eligible but enrolled children today. For more information on previous NEACH activities related to the Challenge, please see this alert, which contains enrollment and outreach materials.

For additional information about eligible but unenrolled children in your state, please see this new study published in the journal Health Affairs and this interactive map that lists every state's Medicaid/CHIP participation rates. For more detailed information on children's coverage in each state, please see this companion report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Thank you for your continued work to advance the health and well-being of New England's children. As always, please feel free to contact me directly with questions at (617) 275-2929 or arosenthal@communitycatalyst.org.

Sincerely,

Amy Rosenthal
Project Director