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Join Ohio Covering Kids and Families Coalition

Crossing the Finish Line for Ohio’s Children and Families

Nothing is as important as a healthy start in life. We can give Ohio’s children that start by making health insurance available to our kids – 365 days a year. Now that Ohio leaders have passed legislation to ensure more children have health coverage, we can produce a strong and successful program that ensures our state’s kids, families and taxpayers all benefit. And, momentum is growing to cover more Ohio parents and adults too.

We hope you will join this work.

What is the Ohio Covering Kids and Families Coalition?

The Ohio Covering Kids and Families Coalition (Ohio CKF) is a statewide network of organizations working to reduce the number of uninsured children and families in Ohio.

Current coalition goals are to:

• Enroll and retain more of the uninsured children and families who are eligible for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP),
• Simplify the enrollment and renewal processes for children and families, and
• Help secure successful implementation of Ohio’s new child health expansions.

Ohio CKF is led by representatives from the Ohio Hospital Association, Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, and Voices for Ohio’s Children. Voices for Ohio’s Children is the lead agency, providing overall coordination and support.

How we do our work

The Ohio CKF Coalition has three active committees which support the overall goals.

Outreach Committee, working to:

• Establish and support a statewide Medicaid Application Assister Network, to provide training, technical assistance, and updated information to people and agencies who help families apply for and renew their Medicaid/SCHIP coverage.
• Identify, support, and disseminate best practices for outreach, enrollment and renewal.

Simplification Committee, working to:

• Streamline the eligibility and renewal process by advocating that Ohio adopt options allowed by the federal government and tested by other states.
• Advocate for increased emphasis on renewals.
• Advocate with state and local officials to ensure that Ohio’s simplification strategies use best practices.

Expansion Implementation Committee, working to:

• Build public and political support for Ohio’s new child health expansions.
• Positively influence the design and implementation of the expansions through administrative advocacy.

Are there local CKF activities?

If you are interested in helping to form a CKF coalition in your community, contact us. Local CKF coalitions operate in several communities:

• The Franklin County Covering Kids and Families Coalition is led by Access HealthColumbus and facilitated by Voices for Ohio’s Children
• The Mahoning Valley Covering Kids and Families Coalition (serving Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties) is led by a partnership of the Mahoning and Trumbull County United Way agences and facilitated by Voices for Ohio’s Children.
• The Southwest Ohio Covering Kids and Families Coalition (serving Butler, Clermont and Hamilton Counties) is led by Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio.
• The Toledo Covering Kids and Families Coalition is convened by the Lucas County Department of Job and Family Services.

Membership is free and open to all concerned individuals and organizations.

Print out the form in the link on the right to sign up for the Ohio Covering Kids and Families Coalition to join the movement to get children and families the health care they need.