Utah families sign children up for CHIP

Daniel Aguilar, father of three, gave an audible sigh of relief Saturday after filling out the application to get his children something they've never had — medical insurance.

"It's been a big worry for us," Aguilar said, noting that the family has been able to pay for dental care but not for doctor visits. So they've just hoped for the best.

The Aguilars were among a steady stream of folks who came to the Sorenson Unity Center on Saturday at the invitation of Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, who set aside the space and time from noon to 9 p.m. to help families apply for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

"A lot of folks just don't know about CHIP, and many who do aren't sure if their kids qualify," Corroon said. "There's a lot of debate over health care reform here and in Washington, but this is a successful program that is bipartisan and has been helping children get the preventative care that is vital to helping them grow into healthy adults."

CHIP is available to working families who earn too much to be on Medicaid, the other joint state and federal insurance plan.

There are many families, particularly Hispanic families, who might feel too daunted to go to a big state agency building to sign up for CHIP, said Rebecca Sanchez, director of the Mayor's Office of Diversity Affairs.

"But this is a community center and a place people are comfortable in, so those who might otherwise feel intimidated to try are coming in today," she said.

There is a family income ceiling for CHIP, but any child born in the United States is qualified for enrollment.

People who have high incomes and those who live in poverty have access to insurance coverage, but there are a lot of folks — and a lot of children — in the middle and lower income levels "who believe they are just stuck without coverage," Sac Nicte Yescas-Smoot, program coordinator with the nonprofit advocacy group Communicades Unidas, said between helping visitors.

The number of children without insurance in Utah and nationwide is at its lowest level in 20 years, thanks in large part to CHIP, which has received bipartisan support in Congress and nearly unanimous endorsement by Utah lawmakers the past five years.

Statistics by the advocacy group Voices for Utah Children and the state Department of Health show that uninsured children are 10 times more likely than insured children to have unmet medical needs, such as untreated diabetes.

If they are hospitalized, uninsured children are also much more likely than insured kids to die. According to a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study, lack of insurance coverage contributed in part or directly to more than 16,000 deaths of hospitalized U.S. children between 1988 to 2005.

Aguilar said "thank goodness" his children, ages 12, 9 and 5, don't have any chronic conditions such as allergies or asthma that require regular medical checkups.

But he realizes that chances are they'll have more ailments than toothaches come along. "Yes, but now I can do more than hope something bad doesn't happen."

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com