Two Ohio orgs receive federal grants to enroll kids in Medicaid

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it will be awarding $40 million in grants for local efforts to identigy and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP (Source: "HHS Awards $40 Million in Grants to Sign Up Children for Health Coverage,” HHS Press Release,  Aug. 18, 2011).

HHS awarded $360,000 to the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati to work with two school districts, the Ohio Department of Education, the Ohio School Athletic Association and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to identify potentially eligible students identified using free and reduced-price school lunch data, school sports physical forms, emergency cards and health history updates.  

The Columbus-based Economic and Community Development Institute was awarded $200,000 to create an outreach and enrollment program to Central Ohio’s Hispanic, Somali and Ethiopian communities.