School-Based Child Health Outreach and Enrollment

Inside AASA

AASA has partnered with the Children’s Defense Fund for the past five years to enroll eligible students in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 15 urban, suburban and rural school districts across four states. Sharon Adams-Taylor, associate executive director, leads this initiative for AASA.

The project’s first two years were supported by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The last three years were backed by The Atlantic Philanthropies, focusing on districts in California and Texas, two of the three states with the largest number of children eligible but unenrolled.By asking the simple question “Does your child have health insurance?” on annual school forms, school districts can identify uninsured children and work with their communities to link them to appropriate health care coverage.

In January 2016, this strategy was recognized as a high-impact opportunity by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services in a joint letter to Chief State School Officers and state health department officials and was listed in federal agencies’ toolkit “Healthy Students, Promising Futures.”

In August 2016, AASA and CDF released a toolkit providing practical steps schools can take to implement the same in their communities. The toolkit, “Happy, Healthy and Ready to Learn: Insure All Children!” is available online and in PDF format.

AASA staff member Rebecca Shaw interviewed Adams-Taylor about the program. It has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the goals of AASA’s health insurance initiative? 

There are two, but first is our vision — that all children are healthy. The first goal is building capacity so health enrollment is part of the district’s infrastructure. It becomes routine. The second is to enroll more eligible students in Medicaid and CHIP.

How does the partnership between AASA and the Children’s Defense Fund complement each other’s work?

In our partnership with CDF, we draw upon each other’s strengths and buoy each other’s weaknesses. We are both focused on children’s health and well-being, and issues of equity. In essence, we model what we want school districts to do, partner with others in their communities to get eligible students enrolled in health insurance.

Is the work in the districts being sustained?

My department begins every initiative with the words “systemic” and “sustainability.” Our work is designed from the outset so that school district infrastructure is changed or improved in a way that will positively impact children through the life of the district. In this initiative, adding the question “Does your child have health insurance?” to an annual form makes that information available to school districts year after year without further investment. It becomes routine, a part of the fabric of school enrollment.

What message are you hoping reaches school system leaders through this project?

On an initial site visit, an assistant superintendent, whose parents were immigrants, recounted going to someone’s garage for treatment when he had a toothache. He didn’t understand it then, but it was because he didn’t have health insurance and his family couldn’t afford for him to see a dentist. As a school administrator, he knows schools can make a difference in the health and well-being of students. That’s the central message in this work. Health is academic. School leaders can make a difference. And AASA and CDF step in and show them exactly how to do it.

How can school system leaders best use the AASA toolkit in their own districts?

The toolkit provides step-by-step guidance through five areas — build, identify, reach, enroll and sustain. What’s unique is that the toolkit not only provides best practices, but it also reveals the lessons learned by school districts and community agencies.

The electronic portion of the toolkit allows school leaders to interact with the toolkit. Interactive maps provide real-time data on uninsured children and short videos with advice from superintendents and other school administrators. School system leaders can join the conversation and interact on social media using #InsureAllChildren.

*Inside AASA is a monthly feature about AASA services and products and the staff members behind them.*