Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreements (CKC) 2025 - Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF) at the University of South Florida (USF), has worked for over 20 years to ensure Florida’s eligible, uninsured children are enrolled in Medicaid and the Florida KidCare Program, Florida’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This proposal for Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreements aims to maximize existing opportunities and structures currently in place with the statewide Florida Connecting Kids to Coverage (CKC-FL) collaborative partnerships with Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida (Lee Health), Jessie Trice Community Health System Inc., The Family Healthcare Foundation, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, and Central Florida Family Health Center Inc. (True Health) to increase enrollment and renewal in Medicaid and Florida KidCare; decreasing the number of uninsured children in Florida. The grant request is for $3 million over five years; $600,000 annually. The project goal is to cumulatively enroll and retain 14,150 children in the Medicaid and CHIP, with 1,675 parents enrolled in health care coverage and 1,625 pregnant individuals enrolled in coverage. Additionally, CKC-FL aims to establish and/or retain 25 application sites, attend 115 outreach events, and host 40 community education sessions annually. FL-CKF will build upon its successful statewide initiative, CKC-FL, from the 2019 and 2022 HEALTHY KIDS Outreach and Enrollment Agreements, and four previous CHIPRA Cycles. Historically, FL-CKF has assisted over 70,000 uninsured children with one-on-one enrollment support, produced enrollment assistance toolkits, online fact sheets, policy briefs, blogs, and articles, as well as conducted webinars and in-person educational trainings on health care coverage. CKC-FL assisters speak at forums, participate in health fairs, provide media interviews across the state, implement wide reaching communication strategies, participate in state and national training summits related to program administration and implementation, and share best practice with other Connecting Kids to Coverage projects nationwide. CKC-FL has a proven track record of successfully increasing the enrollment of eligible children in Medicaid and the KidCare Program by providing direct application and renewal assistance while addressing enrollment and retention challenges. FL-CKF will leverage virtual and in-person platforms to share best practices, ensuring real-time strategy enhancements for maximum impact.
