SEACHIP Assistance to Insure Children

From 2009 to 2011, the Lao Assistance Center will be part of a coalition to implement the Southeast Asian Children’s Health Insurance Program (SEACHIP), to enroll low-income, uninsured Southeast Asian children in Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare insurance plans.

The United Cambodian Association of Minnesota, Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, and Vietnamese Social Services will partner together on this initiative with the Lao Assistance Center.

Recognizing that millions of children are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, but are therefore needlessly uninsured, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 set aside $100 million for fiscal years 2009-2013 expressly to help find and enroll eligible children. “No child in America should go without decent healthcare,” said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, the group within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services that will administer the grants. “With the funds we are awarding today we hope to reduce the number of children who do.”

If you are interested in getting health insurance for your children, contact Chongchith Saengsudham at chongchith@laocenter.org or call (612) 375-4967.