Thread: All Kids Insurance in Ill

1,217 sign up for All Kids health insurance
ALL KIDS | With help from hundreds, health drive exceeds goals

June 23, 2008Recommend (2)

BY MONIFA THOMAS Health Reporter/mjthomas@suntimes.com
The state's All Kids insurance program for children now has more than 1,200 new applicants.

On Saturday, hundreds of volunteers at locations throughout the city and suburbs processed 1,217 applications for All Kids, exceeding the goal of the 1,000 Healthy Kids & Families campaign sponsored by Resurrection Health Care and the Chicago Sun-Times.

» Click to enlarge image Tanvir Kaur, 4, goes over the All Kids application Sunday at Zam's Hope Community Resource Center, 6401 N. Artesian. The center will host another drive next Saturday.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)

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All Kids provides health insurance coverage to uninsured kids at a reduced cost, regardless of income or immigration status. It was launched in 2006 by Gov. Blagojevich as an extension of the existing Kid Care program.

On Sunday, Blagojevich said the success of Saturday's event "is a great start, and it's something we can build on. I commend the Sun-Times and Resurrection Health Care for helping get the word out about this worthy program.

"Providing quality health care for Illinois' children through All Kids should be everyone's priority."

Saturday's enrollment drive wouldn't have been a success without "the remarkable publicity that the Sun-Times provided . . . the hard work of the community partners that helped to register [kids] and bring people out . . . and the cooperation of the State of Illinois," said the Rev. Michael Place, a senior vice president at Resurrection.

"We picked a target that was a stretch, and it's very gratifying to reach it," Place said.

About 400 volunteers fanned out to more than 40 locations to help families fill out their paperwork. And the number of calls to Resurrection's hotline, (877) RES-INFO, on Saturday was double the norm -- mostly because of parents inquiring about All Kids, organizers said.

One of the busiest locations was Zam's Hope in West Rogers Park.

Volunteers at the North Side community center processed 160 All Kids applications, and there were so many families waiting in line at 2 p.m. -- the time the enrollment drive was scheduled to end -- that founder Zehra Quadri kept the doors open until 4 p.m.

Quadri said she was "overwhelmed" by the turnout. Last week, she and other volunteers spread the word about the campaign by posting fliers in multiple languages, going door-to-door around the neighborhood and appearing on radio and television shows.

Other locations, such as the Austin YMCA, had only a handful of families trickle in during the five-hour event. Still, volunteer Gina LaMontagne said: "Even if we got three families, that's three more families that were helped."
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/heal ... 3.article#

I must note, notice the lack of immigration status. Then there was another article where the first 1,000 to sign up got a 50 dollar gas card!! I mean if the kid is illegal, then the parents are too and aren't supposed to be driving. Does this make no sense or what?

kiss that program good bye . Taxpayers dollars are falling fast .This free give a way to Illegals has broke us with Dubya's Blessing . The Peso is now worth more than our Greenback . Never have i seen such Dirty Tactics on the American people , with NO outrage

They say there's 90,000 uninsured kids in Ill. But they did this all out recruitment and the 50 gas card just in the Chicago area. Such a BIG stretch to get a little over 1000, when 90,000 are supposidly in need?