CHILDREN’S HEALTH
Tennessee’s children do better with comprehensive healthcare
CHILDREN’S HEALTH
TJC is a strong, independent voice for children. We help individuals and advocate for all Tennessee children through education, advocacy and public policy.
We educate the public and policymakers about the importance of vital children’s healthcare programs, such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the need to preserve, protect and improve these programs to better meet the needs of children and families in Tennessee. Failing to preserve these programs would adversely impact children and the healthcare infrastructure overall.
We educate community partners and advocates through in-person and virtual trainings, education materials, and our monthly newsletter. Please visit our Resources section to find information that could be helpful to you.
We represent individual clients, including children and families, who need assistance to appeal a denial of medical services or enrollment under TennCare (Medicaid), CoverKids (CHIP), CHOICES, or ECF CHOICES. For help with children’s coverage issues, please visit our Need Help page, or call 615-255-0331 if you or someone you know needs our services.
RESOURCES
2019
10/9 – 83,000 Tennessee Children are Uninsured
9/11 – New Census Data Shows TN Falling Behind
8/14 – New TJC Policy Brief Explains Children’s Coverage Losses
7/15 – At Least 220,000 Kids Lost TennCare Because of Red Tape
6/12 – Proposed Changes to the Federal Poverty Measure
5/15 – Katie Beckett Waiver Passed
4/11 – Promoting Children’s Health in Tennessee
3/13 – Medicaid Block Grants
2/11 – The Economic Cost of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Tennessee
1/9 – Stop the Addition of Work Reporting Requirements
2018
12/10 – Submitting Your Federal Comments
11/14 – We Need the Katie Beckett Wavier
10/10 –Policies Impacting Tennessee
9/13 – Healthy Kids are Better Learners
8/16 – A New Threat to Immigrant Families
7/12 – Promoting Health Equity
6/7 – Children Need Essential Health Coverage
5/3 – Keeping the Core Focus of the Farm Bill
4/6 – Mothers: Speaking Up for Themselves and Their Children
3/9 – There’s Peace of Mind Knowing Your Kids Are Covered
2/8 – Insure Our Kids Campaign
1/4 – TennCare Redetermination
2017
12/14 – Giving Back to Tennessee’s Children
11/18 – Premature Births on the Rise in Tennessee
11/1 – The Champion Act
10/19 – Funding Critical Health Subsidies
10/4 – Vital Programs Need Reauthorization
9/21 – Rejecting the Graham-Cassidy Bill
9/8 – Educating Ourselves and Our Communities
8/23 – The Importance of the Reauthorization of CHIP
8/9 – Health Coverage Helps Kids Excel in School
7/28 – Get Involved in Improving Our Health Care System
7/14 – The Impact of the Better Care Reconciliation Act
6/30 – Let Us, Help You!
6/16 – Children’s Health Facts
May 2017 Webinar Series
Webinar I: Medicaid/TennCare
Webinar II: CHIP/CoverKids
Webinar III: SNAP
Webinar IV: Federal Threats to Children’s Health Coverage
How Tennessee Became an Outlier in the Rising Number of Uninsured Children and What Must Happen to Reverse the Trend – Staff Attorney Chris Coleman, July 2019
Work Reporting Requirement for Tennessee Parents Would Harm Low-Income Families with Children – Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the Tennessee Justice Center, January 2019
Why are Tennessee moms and babies dying at such a high rate? – Children’s Health Intern Anna Lummus & Health Policy Associate Anna Walton, September 2018
Trump Administration’s New Policy on Unemployed Workers – Staff Attorney Chris Coleman, January 2018
Medicaid’s Important Role to Curb Opioid Abuse: An Underutilized Tool in Tennessee – Director of Children’s Health Kinika Young, October 2017
The Importance of CHIP Reauthorization – King Child Health Fellow De Vann Sago, September 2017
The American Health Care Act is a Bad Deal for Tennessee – Staff Attorney Chris Coleman, May 2017
Thousands of Tennessee children have lost health insurance. Many parents don’t know.
Please call 1-877-608-1009 if your child has lost their coverage. Almost every child is eligible for free or low-cost health insurance through TennCare or CoverKids.
OUR PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
How to get health insurance for my child in Tennessee
How can I help children get health insurance in Tennessee?
INSURE OUR KIDS
We are on a mission to enroll every eligible child in Tennessee in Medicaid and CHIP. These programs are instrumental in providing health insurance coverage to children in low- and middle-income families so that they can have a healthy start. Almost every uninsured child is eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, and they often need help with the application process. By partnering with other organizations, we are training volunteers and professionals who encounter uninsured children to help them enroll.
For more information about this campaign, visit insureourkids.org and read Director of Children’s Health Kinika Young’s blog in the Nashville Medical News. If you would like to sign up for training or if your organization is interested in becoming a partner, please contact a member of our team. With your help, we can bring the number of uninsured children in Tennessee to ZERO!
STUDENT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM
The Student Ambassador Program began in 2018 to promote engagement among high school students in health care advocacy. Ambassadors learn about the health insurance system, best practices for advocacy, and how to engage their peers to use their voices. Ambassadors develop skills in digital communications, public speaking, and project management.
TJC’s Student Ambassadors participate in an annual conference where they learn how insurance programs like Medicaid support our communities and about how they can engage with TJC’s work to increase and protect access to coverage.
IMPROVING HEALTH OUTCOMES
TJC has partnered with the Martha O’Bryan Center to focus on leveraging Medicaid to combat adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), improve health outcomes, and address health disparities in communities of color. Trauma-informed care is an approach to providing services and support to traumatized individuals (as evidenced by a high ACEs score) that is proven to avoid re-traumatization and create safe, stable and nurturing environments. Kinika Young is a certified Building Strong Brains Tennessee trainer. If your group is interested in being trained about the Role of Life Experiences in Shaping Brain Development, including ways to prevent ACEs and mitigate their impact, please contact Kinika.
MAKING SURE FAMILIES HAVE A VOICE
TJC is supporting the Tennessee Disability Coalition on a project to strengthen and support the consumer advisory councils under the Employment and Community First (ECF) CHOICES program, TennCare’s long-term services and supports program for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This initiative aims to ensure that MCOs and TennCare are more responsive to the needs of clients and their families.
OUR PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
INSURE OUR KIDS
We are on a mission to enroll every eligible child in Tennessee in Medicaid and CHIP. These programs are instrumental in providing health insurance coverage to children in low- and middle-income families so that they can have a healthy start. Almost every uninsured child is eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, and they often need help with the application process. By partnering with other organizations, we are training volunteers and professionals who encounter uninsured children to help them enroll.
For more information about this campaign, visit insureourkids.org and read Director of Children’s Health Kinika Young’s blog in the Nashville Medical News. If you would like to sign up for training or if your organization is interested in becoming a partner, please contact a member of our team. With your help, we can bring the number of uninsured children in Tennessee to ZERO!
STUDENT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM
The Student Ambassador Program began in 2018 to promote engagement among high school students in health care advocacy. Ambassadors learn about the health insurance system, best practices for advocacy, and how to engage their peers to use their voices. Ambassadors develop skills in digital communications, public speaking, and project management.
TJC’s Student Ambassadors participated in a conference in January 2018. At the conference, ambassadors learned how insurance programs like Medicaid support our communities and about how they can engage with TJC’s work to increase and protect access to coverage.
IMPROVING HEALTH OUTCOMES
TJC has partnered with the Martha O’Bryan Center to focus on leveraging Medicaid to combat adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), improve health outcomes, and address health disparities in communities of color. Trauma-informed care is an approach to providing services and support to traumatized individuals (as evidenced by a high ACEs score) that is proven to avoid re-traumatization and create safe, stable and nurturing environments. Kinika Young is a certified Building Strong Brains Tennessee trainer. If your group is interested in being trained about the Role of Life Experiences in Shaping Brain Development, including ways to prevent ACEs and mitigate their impact, please contact Kinika.
MAKING SURE FAMILIES HAVE A VOICE
TJC is supporting the Tennessee Disability Coalition on a project to strengthen and support the consumer advisory councils under the Employment and Community First (ECF) CHOICES program, TennCare’s long-term services and supports program for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This initiative aims to ensure that MCOs and TennCare are more responsive to the needs of clients and their families.
CHILDREN’S CHAT
The Children’s Chat is a monthly policy newsletter/blog focused on children’s health issues led by Anna Walton and Kinika Young. You can sign up for other TJC newsletters here or join our Facebook community for regular conversations around these issues. Click here to access the children’s chat archive.
MEDIA COVERAGE
TJC’s Michele Johnson and Anna Walton and Georgetown Center for Children and Families’ Joan Alker discuss the importance of health coverage for children.
Lawyer Kinika Young left her job as a partner at Bass, Berry & Sims to work as the Director of Children’s Health at Tennessee Justice Center.
TJC’s Michele Johnson shares what inspired her to devote her career to fighting for children.
