Program provides medical insurance for low-income children, teens

An estimated 14,000 Alaska children and teens are eligible but have not received insurance through Denali KidCare, a state of Alaska program that helps ensure Alaska children and teens have adequate health insurance. While more than 28,200 Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid through Denali KidCare outreach, many parents are not aware that the program exists, or that their children are eligible for the insurance.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created a State Children's Health Insurance Program. In Alaska SCHIP is known as Denali KidCare. Families fill out a four-page form to apply for insurance for their children and mail it off with proper documentation. If they meet the qualifications, their children are insured within 10 days to two weeks after the program receives the application. While August's Back to School campaign is set up to educate parents about the program, many work throughout the year to ensure that Alaskans know about and apply for the program.

"I do some screening to see if they are eligible," said Denali KidCare contact representative Heather Goecke, who works for Southcentral Foundation in the Valley. "It's a little more difficult for me because I work outside of a clinic."

Goecke travels around the Valley medical community, visiting with parents and seeing if their children are eligible for the program. Many local and statewide clinics, hospitals and state offices, such as public assistance, offer parents information and copies of the application for Denali KidCare. Applicants must be 18 years or younger or pregnant, live in Alaska, and must meet the income guidelines set forth by the program. Currently, a family of four can earn up to $46,000 a year and be eligible for Denali KidCare. That amount will go down after Sept. 1, however. Parents are encouraged to enroll or re-enroll their children before that deadline, to ensure the children are adequately covered.

"I've watched the children that we've helped join the Denali KidCare program over the last four years grow, become stronger and healthier with improved school attendance and grades," wrote Cynthia Ebelacker, owner of Alaska Family Healthcare Associates in Eagle River. "The increased access to health care has had a positive impact on total quality of life for these children and families. They have a much greater potential to become healthy, productive citizens in the future," she wrote.

Denali KidCare covers well exam checkups, prescriptions, exams, dental, vision, hearing, speech therapy, physical therapy, mental health therapy, subsistence abuse treatment, chiropractic services and medical transportation. For more information on the program or an application, call 1-888-318-8890.