WellCare Comments on Funding for the Championing Healthy Kids Act
TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reauthorize funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) has long championed CHIP, which provides low-cost health coverage to approximately 9 million children of low-income working families, for its ability to provide children with routine check-ups, immunizations, doctor visits, dental and vision care, prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, emergency services and more.
For children who would generally fall into the "insurance gap" because their parents are not eligible for Medicaid and cannot afford to purchase private insurance, CHIP provides care and preventive services to those who otherwise would not have access, offering them a chance to grow up healthy and thrive.
For example, in Kentucky, which has the seventh highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation, WellCare partnered with the Marshall County Health Department's nutrition services branch on a program that promotes character and physical health that resulted in a 12 percent decrease in overweight and obese children participants across six public elementary schools. The program connects adult mentors from the health department, school system and other community services to students and provides children with 45 minutes of moderate physical activity and 10 minutes of nutritional counseling once a week. Participating third graders showed a 6 percent decrease in obesity and a 29 percent decrease in those who were overweight, while non-participating third graders registered a 26 percent combined weight increase.
As states look for new and innovative ways to care for vulnerable populations while reining in costs, WellCare and other managed care organizations offer quality, cost-effective and accountable care to those most in need.
SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
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