To boost Illinois' dismal CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) enrollment numbers last year, an outreach campaign used untapped community resources to reach uninsured working families.
Prior to this campaign, only 27,000 of 200,000 eligible children had been enrolled in Illinois' KidCare program. To help fix what was broken with KidCare, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded the Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition (IMCHC) a $1 million grant (disbursed over three years) to overhaul the program's partnering/outreach initiatives and simplify the enrollment process.
So far, the infusion of financial resources is generating impressive results. In less than eight months, the program has enrolled more than 70,000 children and is showing strong potential to meet its 2002 enrollment goal of 156,000 children.
Reaching the working families who are eligible for this coverage has been fraught with outreach challenges, says Candice Warltier, director of outreach at MSI Strategic Communications, the Chicago-based agency that provided PR support for KidCare. For starters, awareness among Illinois' eligible families was low - many of them did not know where and how to apply for the program. In addition, the press and various health advocates had slammed the program because of its low enrollment numbers.
To change KidCare's perception, MSI identified outreach opportunities that appealed to the integrity of working families while escaping the negative stigma of other government-backed health programs like welfare and unemployment efforts. Hard-working families that are eligible for KidCare do not want to be perceived as needing a government handout, says Warltier.
Tapping Into Libraries
MSI found that one of the most effective ways of striking this balance of reaching working families without offending them is through the public library. Based on research MSI had done on previous projects with the Illinois State Library, the library is a popular resource for families of all income levels for healthcare information. The idea was presented to Secretary of State Jesse White's office - which oversees the state's libraries - and garnered the support of more than 300 public libraries. Libraries participated by hanging KidCare banners, posters and providing brochures. In August, United Way also came on board and sponsored a citywide library sign-up day in Chicago involving 78 libraries there.
The event marked a significant change in how the press covered the program, says Warltier. In addition to covering the sign-up day, the media started focusing on KidCare family success stories. The Chicago Tribune, for instance, did a feature on a truck driver who had not been able to afford health coverage for his five children until he signed up for KidCare. MSI media prepped at least five families from different Illinois markets to boost this kind of coverage. Broadcast news outlets have been the most responsive to these pitches which is strategically ideal because television tends to be the primary news resource for working families, says Warltier.
Building Collective Brainpower
Another critical reason KidCare's enrollment has soared so quickly is the coordinated statewide partnerships that support it, says Ann Marchetti, IMCHC's associate director of programming. IMCHC formed a coalition from a cross section of organizations that have a vested interest in improving the health coverage of children, including advocacy and community-based groups, local school systems, healthcare providers and the faith, business and labor communities.
The coalition uses its collective brainpower to simplify the enrollment process and promote KidCare to its various constituents. Strategies to simplify enrollment have included increasing the number of KidCare sites, using mail-in applications and incorporating one universal KidCare application for federal/state programs. PR toolkits also were provided to KidCare partners so they could independently promote the program.
Positioning IMCHC as a catalyst for improving KidCare has helped the coalition cut through the bureaucratic red tape of partnering with so many different organizations with varying social agendas, says Marchetti. KidCare's focus on creative partnering will intensify next year. Preliminary discussions are under way with the Secretary of State's office to promote the program via the motor vehicles department and through a calendar of outreach activities throughout the year involving faith groups, United Way and healthcare providers.
(MSI Strategic Communications, Candice Warltier, 312/944-7398; IMCHC, Ann Marchetti, 312/719-8074)
Targeting Working Families
Nationally, CHIP outreach efforts have not effectively targeted families that have moved from welfare to work. Illinois' KidCare program is addressing this void by identifying outreach opportunities that reach working families with dignity. Key examples include:
- Promoting KidCare via public libraries - a top resource of health information for families of all income levels.
- Pitching the media on KidCare success stories involving families that have enrolled in the program.
- Working with other organizations that can simplify the enrollment process like government agencies, advocacy groups and healthcare providers.