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News Release

HHS AWARDS $11.7 MILLION TO STATES TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES
TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HEALTH INSURANCE

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced $11.7 million in grants to support projects in 30 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands to develop plans to provide affordable health insurance for uninsured residents.

Seven states --Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Virginia -- and the District of Columbia will receive new one-year grants totaling close to $7.4 million under HHS' State Planning Grants program. Supplemental grants of almost $4.3 million will go to 24 current grantees (23 states and the Virgin Islands) to support their efforts to develop options to increase health insurance coverage.

"These grants will help states develop strategies to provide access to health care and coverage for more of their residents. This a complex issue that requires innovation, and we want to encourage state ideas to help get more Americans health coverage," Secretary Thompson said. "With more than 40 million Americans lacking health insurance, we are pursuing a wide range of initiatives to expand coverage. President Bush's budget plan would expand community health centers that care for the uninsured, offer health tax credits to help individuals obtain insurance and would extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid to reach more Americans who otherwise would go without coverage."

Grantees first conduct studies to identify uninsured residents and the reasons why they are uninsured. Then states use this information to determine the most effective ways to provide high-quality, affordable health insurance, using plans offered to government employees or other benchmark health plans as a model. The grants are administered by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and its Office of Special Programs.

"An important element of the grants requires states to report to Secretary Thompson on details of their proposals to increase residents' access to health insurance," HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke said. "These findings will be helpful to the federal government and to other states as we work together to expand coverage."

Information about the President's initiatives to help the uninsured is available at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030211.html. Additional information on the State Planning Grants program is available at http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/stateplanning.

Lists of the new and supplemental grants follow.

FY 2003 New State Planning Grants
Organization	City	State	Award
District of Columbia Dept. of Health	Washington	D.C.	$990,000
Florida Agency for Health Care Admin.	Tallahassee	Fla.	$975,000
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services	Jefferson City	Mo.	$938,489
Nebraska Department of Health	Lincoln	Neb.	$776,522
New Mexico Human Services Dept.	Santa Fe	N.M.	$905,000
Oklahoma Health Care Authority	Oklahoma City	Okla.	$874,360
Rhode Island Dept. of Human Services	Cranston	R.I.	$961,156
Virginia Department of Health	Richmond	Va.	$969,729
Total			$7,390,256

FY 2003 State Planning Supplemental Grants
Organization	City	State	Award
Alabama Department of Public Health	Montgomery	Ala.	$185,000
Arkansas Department of Health	Little Rock	Ark.	$287,704*
Connecticut Office of Health Care Access	Hartford	Conn.	$185,000
Delaware Health Care Commission	Dover	Del.	$150,000
Hawaii Department of Health	Honolulu	Hawaii	$185,000
Idaho Department of Commerce	Boise	Idaho	$185,000
Illinois Department of Insurance	Springfield	Ill.	$185,000
Indiana Family and Social Services Admin.	Indianapolis	Ind.	$185,000
Iowa Department of Public Health	Des Moines	Iowa	$103,595
Kansas Department of Insurance	Topeka	Kan.	$185,000
Maine Department of Human Services	Augusta	Maine	$185,000
Maryland Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene	Baltimore	Md.	$185,000
Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance	Boston	Mass.	$185,000
Minnesota Department of Health	St. Paul	Minn.	$185,000
New Jersey Department of Human Services	Trenton	N.J.	$185,000
Oregon Office for Health Policy and Research	Salem	Ore.	$185,000
South Carolina Department of Insurance	Columbia	S.C.	$170,088
Texas Department of Insurance	Austin	Texas	$173,811
Vermont Agency for Human Services	Waterbury	Vermont	$148,233
Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research	Charlotte Amalie	V.I.	$103,595
Washington Office of Financial Management	Olympia	Wash.	$185,000
West Virginia Health Care Authority	Charleston	W.Va.	$185,000
Wisconsin Dept. of Health and Family Services	Madison	Wisc.	$185,000
Wyoming Department of Health	Cheyenne	Wyo.	$185,000
Total			$4,282,026
*Includes $137,720 for the State Planning Grants Multi-State Integrated Data Base

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: October 1, 2003