On July 27, 2000, the Healthcare Education Project -- a joint initiative of GNYHA and 1199/SEIU, New York's health and human service employees union -- and WNBC launched a public awareness campaign called Cover Every Child. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness about New York State's Child Health Plus (CHP) insurance program for children and to increase enrollment in the CHP and Medicaid programs. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani attended the press conference announcing the campaign and praised the initiative.

"More than 500,000 uninsured kids in New York State are eligible for health insurance programs like Child Health Plus and Medicaid but are not enrolled," said GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske. "We hope that Cover Every Child will greatly reduce that number by encouraging parents to call a toll-free number -- 1-877-KIDS-NOW -- to find out if their kids are eligible and to enroll them in health insurance programs."

Campaign Activities: On the day of the press conference announcing the initiative, the Healthcare Education Project distributed fact sheets in six languages about CHP and Medicaid, as well as Cover Every Child baby blankets and children's tee shirts, to all metropolitan-area hospitals.

WNBC Involvement: WNBC is partnering with the Healthcare Education Project to promote the Cover Every Child campaign. The station produced a public service announcement in English and in Spanish encouraging parents to call the toll-free number to learn whether their children are eligible for health insurance and how they can enroll their children in the State's program.

Future Campaigns: The Cover Every Child campaign will serve as a blueprint for a future Healthcare Education Project initiative in 2001 to enroll New Yorkers in Family Health Plus, a new State program that will offer comprehensive health insurance at no cost to low-income, uninsured adults who do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare and cannot currently afford private health insurance.