Department of Human Services | DHS reaches Gov. Corzine's goal of insuring 50,000 new children
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For Immediate Release:
April 27, 2007

For Information, Contact:
Suzanne Esterman, (609) 292-3703

Commissioner Velez congratulates health center for 1,300 new NJ FamilyCare enrollees
PLAINFIELD — Acting Commissioner Jennifer Velez used the backdrop of national 'Cover the Uninsured Week' today to announce that the Department of Human Services has met Gov. Corzine's initiative to insure an additional 50,000 children by July 2007. The announcement was made at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) here that enrolled 1,356 children into the state's NJ FamilyCare insurance program since 2006.“Thanks to the hard work of the Plainfield Health Center , and others, New Jersey has met Gov. Corzine's goal. Ideally, the Department of Human Services would like to make sure all New Jersey's eligible children have NJ FamilyCare coverage,” said Acting Commissioner Velez.

NJ FamilyCare provides free or low-cost health care coverage to income-eligible children. The program, part of Medicaid's State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, also covers eligible parents at certain income levels. Children, whose family income is up to $72,275 annually for a family of four, are eligible. Parents can be eligible if their family income is up to $23,748 for a family of four.

Currently, there are 536,102 children and 163,303 adults covered through NJ FamilyCare. Of those, 128,091 children and 85,205 adults are via SCHIP and the rest are via Medicaid.

Cover the Uninsured Week, from April 23-29, highlights the needs of the uninsured and seeks solutions for the millions of people without health care coverage. With many eligible, but uninsured, children in New Jersey, the Department of Human Services continuously works to enroll children in NJ FamilyCare for free or low-cost health insurance that is based on a family's income.

The Plainfield Health Center , an FQHC on Myrtle Avenue here, has been instrumental in signing up children for the program bringing in more new enrollees than any other FQHC in New Jersey . Of the 5,000 new enrollees into NJ FamilyCare by the state's 19 FQHCs since 2006, the Plainfield site accounted for about 25 percent.

“We know we must do creative things in order to spread the message that NJ FamilyCare exists and to make sure that it is as easy as possible to apply and enroll in this important program,” said Acting Commissioner Velez.

Among the creative approaches Human Services uses is a simple online application that is available in Spanish and English, a website with information available in 11 languages besides English and an innovative campaign called, In reach, that coordinates resources available with in the state's other departments and capitalizes on them. An example of In reach is joining forces with the Department of Education and the Motor Vehicles Commission to inform their clients that NJ FamilyCare is available.

For more information on the NJ FamilyCare program, visit www.njfamilycare.org or call 1-800-701-0710.

 
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