Special grant to be announced for health ministry in area churches, mosques and synagogues. 400-plus diverse faith, community representatives attend rally in support of State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization and expansion. 160,000 of Michigan’s children, most in working families, are uninsured.
Faith leaders, heads of The Detroit Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Henry Ford Health System, Oakwood Health Care, Inc., St. John Health, Trinity Health and 400-plus community members will gather to launch Cover the Uninsured Week 2007 (April 23-29) and underline the need to provide health coverage for Michigan’s 160,000 uninsured children. SCHIP provides health insurance to kids whose parents are either not offered health insurance through their jobs or cannot afford the coverage that is offered.
Currently Congress is debating how much money to devote to kids’ coverage. The Interfaith Summit will highlight the effect that reauthorizing and expanding the program would have on Michigan’s children. Faith leaders will receive information on how they can help enroll eligible children in MIChild.
Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Cover the Uninsured campaign is focused on the need to secure health coverage for all Americans. Now in its fifth year, the campaign is focused in 2007 on the reauthorization of SCHIP and enrolling eligible families in available insurance programs.