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The numbers of people uninsured continues to rise nationwide, but Wisconsin is bucking the trend with the success of its BadgerCare Plus public health insurance program. But while BadgerCare Plus is widely available, many of those for whom it was designed aren’t yet aware they are eligible for coverage.

Covering Kids & Families, a coalition of more than 65 organizations, works to help promote awareness of BadgerCare Plus to Wisconsin’s low-income families with children who might not know about the program. Covering Kids & Families has been a force for education — trying to connect people with insurance for which they’re eligible.

BadgerCare Plus offers health care to nearly all children in Wisconsin at a price that is affordable for most families. Low-income families can enroll their children in BadgerCare Plus at no charge. Co-payments for health care services range from 50 cents to $3 for families with lower incomes.

BadgerCare Plus focuses on preventive health screenings, helping identify health-related problems and providing solutions for children before their health or school progress suffers.

The program also offers coverage for pregnant women, self-employed parents, farmers and youths who are aging out of foster care.

UW-Extension Family Living Programs has helped in efforts to educate people about the state’s public insurance programs in a variety of ways, including building awareness of BadgerCare Plus in schools and working with partners who help eligible families apply for insurance online. Last year, Family Living educators in 60 counties participated in activities designed to make families aware of BadgerCare Plus.

One successful strategy to increase awareness has been to promote BadgerCare Plus in public schools. Covering Kids & Families’ Connecting Health Insurance to Lunch Data (CHILD) Project seeks to increase health insurance coverage among Wisconsin’s children by linking enrollment in BadgerCare Plus and the schools’ free and reduced-price meal programs.

Free and reduced-price meals administered by Wisconsin’s schools benefit the health of low-income students, and connecting them with participation in BadgerCare Plus offers an opportunity to reach some families who might be most in need of health insurance. Since 2000, federal law allows schools and the state to share students’ free and reduced-price meal eligibility information with Family Medicaid programs (BadgerCare Plus in Wisconsin) to encourage increased public health insurance coverage and improve outcomes for this at-risk population.

The CHILD project is being piloted in school districts within Dane, Marathon, Milwaukee, La Crosse and Polk counties, and in rural southwest Wisconsin. The project will expand to additional areas in 2009.