Five nonprofit organizations in Texas have been awarded almost $5 million by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,reports The Houston Chronicle. The money will go toward boosting efforts to enroll the state's nearly three-quarters of a million uninsured children.
The Lone Star State currently leads the nation in uninsured citizens. Texas also has more children who lack health insurance coverage than any other state. In fact, more than one in 10 Texas children 18 and younger remains uninsured.
The new federal funds are designed to get more eligible children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly known as CHIP. Many children nationwide have been enrolled in healthcare since the institution of the Affordable Care Act. But gaps remain. Groups especially prone to slipping through coverage cracks include teenagers, and Native American and Hispanic children.