Cover MO Kids

Cover MO Kids

Help ensure Missouri children & families have access to Medicaid coverage

Take Action to Help Ensure Missouri Children Have Healthcare

Beginning January 1, 2024, all states will be required to enact 12-month continuous coverage for children on Medicaid and CHIP, as mandated by Congress in 2022. Missouri can take steps NOW to ensure this change is seamless by enacting the policy at the state level and directing our state’s Medicaid agency to implement the policy before it becomes mandatory. This means:

  • Kids who have health insurance without coverage gaps have better health outcomes.

  • Modest fluctuations in family monthly income won’t result in kids unnecessarily losing eligibility for Medicaid & CHIP.

  • A decrease in unnecessary administrative & hospitalization costs for kids.

“One of the true blessings of the public health emergency is we haven’t had to turn anyone away. Children are benefiting from routine checkups and chronic disease management, like asthma follow-ups and those sorts of things. Allowing that gap to be filled by the CHIP program is really keeping kids healthy and strong.”

– Dr. Maya Moody

Thousands of Missouri Children Rely on Medicaid for Health Coverage.

For the first time in nearly three years, states will begin annual renewals for Medicaid coverage. Starting April 1, 2023, Missouri families will need to fill out a renewal form to ensure coverage.

63%

Amount of pregnancy-related deaths that occur between 43 days to a year after childbirth. Most pregnancy-related deaths in Missouri are preventable.

32.7%

of Missouri Children Aged 0-18 receive health insurance coverage from Medicaid. Source: Medicaid Coverage Rates for the Nonelderly by Age | KFF

Watch & Learn

Our members contribute their own commentaries

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Maya Moody

Dr. Moody explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Thuylinh Pham

Dr. Pham explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Kenneth Haller

Dr. Haller explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. James Hubbard

Dr. Hubbard explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Heidi Sallee

Dr. Sallee explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Alexandra James

Dr. James explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Katie Blount

Dr. Blount explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Kayce Morton

Dr. Morton explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Kristin Sohl

Dr. Sohl explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Beth Garrett

Dr. Garrett explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Keeping Kids Connected, with Dr. Casey Cordts

Dr. Cordts explains why continuous coverage is vital for young children.

Medicaid Renewals are coming back in April 2023

Information About Missouri Medicaid for Children and Families

Learn the benefits of enacting 12-month continuous Medicaid coverage for children and expanding postpartum coverage for moms in Missouri.

Medicaid Renewals are coming back in April 2023

THE LAST WORD

What pediatricians are saying…

What pediatricians are saying…

“If we really want our own children – the children in our own home to grow up happy, healthy, and free from fear – we have to make sure that every child has that opportunity.”

Dr. Ken Haller

“We certainly want our children to be happy and healthy, but also we want to make sure that we are doing what we can to be good stewards of our dollars, and making sure that we are doing our part to keep health care costs down.”

Dr. Maya Moody

“If we protect children, they become the adults that are healthy. They become the adults that are productive. They become the leaders of our communities and of our state.”

Dr. Alexandra James

“It takes everybody to have a healthy community, Medicaid for kids is a really cost effective and very efficient way of serving all of the children in our community.”

Dr. Kristin Sohl

“For our kids in Missouri, access to health care is crucially important. It allows me to take really good care of them and to be preventative and then proactive about addressing issues.”

Dr. Heidi Sallee