New Jersey is putting this idea to the test with its new “Insured for Sure” initiative that is being piloted in nine New Jersey hospitals. Hospital staff will check the insurance status of all newborns and provide data to the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) verifying a baby’s coverage under the parent’s insurance. If a child is uninsured, staff will help families complete a streamlined one-page online application for NJ FamilyCare. And it gets even better, there is no need to submit paperwork.
As NJ-DHSS Commissioner Heather Howard stated in announcing the program: “Having health insurance is the first step in ensuring…a healthy start in life.” Health insurance is a young family’s ticket to a medical home and the health support system they need to care for their infant including those critical well baby checkups. In the first year of life alone, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends seven well-child care visits to ensure that newborns grow and develop appropriately and get the immunizations they need to prevent childhood diseases. Sadly, studies have shown that barely a third of uninsured children get the recommended number of well-child visits.
New Jersey isn’t alone in its efforts to increase the number of babies who leave the hospital with health insurance. Oklahoma developed a web-based program for hospitals to directly enroll infants born to moms covered by Medicaid in its SoonerCare program. This program known as eNB-1 adds newborns in real time and ensures that a medical home is selected for the baby. It also provides an immediate ID number, which simplifies the billing process for hospitals.
A newborn whose delivery is covered by Medicaid or CHIP by law is automatically eligible for a full year of coverage. Period. End of discussion. Unfortunately, in the past, some of these newborns have slipped through the cracks because of reporting or paperwork requirements. CHIPRA further clarified the importance of providing infants with insurance in this all-important first year of life. In particular, CHIPRA clarified that these babies have met the citizenship documentation requirement by virtue of the fact that they were born in a U.S. hospital, thus eliminating unnecessary paperwork.
If more states launch initiatives like “Insured for Sure” and eNB-1, backed by strong technology, we truly can make significant gains in covering children when they are most vulnerable. Making sure that no newborn leaves the hospital without health insurance is an idea whose time has come.
