Long Island’s children represent 17.5 percent of the uninsured on Long Island. The Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council (NSHC) renewed its commitment to enroll all eligible children into state sponsored health insurance programs, when it officially opened its new headquarter office for its Facilitated Enrollment Program at 700 Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge. The event took place on the final day of “Cover the Uninsured Week,” the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project that seeks to raise awareness about the plight of the uninsured – especially children. Health Commissioners from both counties were among the dignitaries who attended.
The NSHC, the organization that represents Long Island’s 24 not-for-profit and public hospitals, is authorized through a New York State Department of Health grant to screen and assist all eligible children and adults into obtaining either Medicaid, Child Health Plus, or Family Health Plus insurance coverage. Each program has different income thresholds and coverage parameters, and they are either free or charge low-cost premiums.
“The NSHC provides an important and necessary service to the residents of Long Island,” said Mary Dillon, the health program contract manager from the state health department. “It will take everyone working together to help people obtain the health insurance coverage they so desperately need.”
The NSHC Facilitated Enrollment Program is among the top five in the state, regarding the quality and volume of applications, according to the state health department. NSHC is in its seventh year of offering facilitated enrollment, and to date, has enrolled 19,993 children into Medicaid or Child Health Plus and 4,415 adults into Medicaid or Family Health Plus.
NSHC enrollers staff open houses at public libraries, churches, civic centers, and at other community settings, even during off peak hours, making the enrollment process accessible and easy. Ongoing enrollment is also held at their Hauppauge location and at these hospitals: New Island Medical Center, South Nassau Communities Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, St. Charles Hospital, Huntington Hospital’s Dolan Family Health Center, Mercy Medical Center, and Eastern Long Island Hospital.
For more information about the Hospital Council’s Facilitated Enrollment Program, including enrollment locations and documents required to apply for insurance, please call (631) 656-9783 or (631) 435-3000, or go to www.nshc.org and click on Facilitated Enrollment.
Source: Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council
