HOME
ABOUT &
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
  SECTION 1  
Applying for
Health Insurance
  SECTION 2 
Eligibility in
Special Situations
  SECTION 3 
After Application
Approval
  SECTION 4 
Accessing
Health Care
  SECTION 5 
Low Cost
Health Care
  SECTION 6 
APPENDIX A
  SECTION 6 
APPENDIX B
  SECTION 6 
APPENDIX C



HOME
ABOUT & INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1
Applying for Health Insurance
SECTION 2
Eligibility in Special Situations
SECTION 3
After Application Approval
SECTION 4
Accessing Health Care
SECTION 5
Low Cost Health Care
SECTION 6 • APPENDIX A
SECTION 6 • APPENDIX B
SECTION 6 • APPENDIX C

A Manual for School Nurses and Counselors

5TH EDITION • 2022

Public Health Insurance for Children in Pennsylvania

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE April 2023: Starting April 17, 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) will be deciding who qualifies for CHIP. This will include both new applications and renewals. This means that the current 130,000 CHIP families and all new enrollees will need to go through DHS instead of their CHIP health insurance plan to determine eligibility.  Click Here for More Information.

More than 37,000 children and teens in the Greater Philadelphia area are uninsured. Yet the majority of them are eligible for free or low-cost health insurance.

Here’s the good news! Almost every child and teen qualifies for free or low-cost health insurance!

School nurses and counselors are often the primary and most consistent source of health information and assistance for families without health insurance. When parents and caregivers are questioned, they rank schools and school staff as highly trusted sources of information about health and health insurance. Trying to navigate the health care system for their children can be difficult.

The purpose of this manual is to assist school nurses and counselors in connecting students to health insurance and health care services.

The first four sections of this manual provide details on the programs that cover children and their families, how to apply for coverage and where to get help with applications, what health benefits are covered, and how to access them. The second two sections of the manual list resources for schools and , resources for care – free and low-cost health care services in Bucks, Chester, Delaware Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties for children who are uninsured or underinsured, a guide to applying for coverage, and resources for consumers.

How to Use this Resource

Looking for health insurance for a child?

Need a flyer to share with your families?

Looking for income guidelines?

Need low cost or free health care for kids in your county?

Q

IMPORTANT UPDATE January 2024:

For more than 20 years, our HelpLine delivered on the promise of helping families find affordable health insurance for their children. However, over the years, finding the resources to continue to provide this vital service have dwindled. We refused to turn our backs on the more than 1,000 families that ask us for help every year and found a solution that continues to ensure families have ready access to critical children’s health insurance navigation support.    

We are pleased to announce that as of January 2024, Pennsylvania Health Action Network (PHAN) will continue the HelpLine by embedding it in their their expert operation that has, for more than a decade, reliably assisted individuals in finding affordable health insurance options across the state. 

If you know of a family in need of health care coverage for their children, please contact PHAN’s helpline, call or text 877-570-3642 or email helpline@pahealthaccess.org. 

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