Nevada SCHIP Enrollment Increases By 9%

Nevada State Children's Health Insurance Program

Enrollment in Nevada Checkup, the state's version of SCHIP, increased by 9% over the past year to 30,204 children, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. According to the Review-Journal, increasing enrollment in the program "is a priority" because the state Department of Health and Human Services "has been scrutinized for not reaching eligible children."

Charles Duarte, administrator for the Nevada Division of Health Care Financing and Policy,said, "With this increased enrollment, that means we are beginning tosee some progress in outreach and coordination efforts to get morechildren enrolled." Duarte noted that Nevada Checkup is budgeted toprovide health insurance to 30,167 children per month for fiscal year2008 and 31,081 children per month for FY 2009.

"It looks likewe are going to easily meet our budget," Duarte said, adding, "In orderto reach this population, we really have to do a lot of aggressivemarketing." State lawmakers last year approved legislation that willprovide $500,000 for program marketing, and Duarte said the programlikely will receive federal matching funds (Wells, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 8/30).

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