Thousands more children uninsured
Source: By POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Houston Chronicle (TX), March 1, 2006, 12:40AM
AUSTIN - Enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program has plunged this year to 295,000, the lowest since 2001 when the program was in its infancy, health officials said Tuesday....... CHIP enrollment has dropped each month since December, the first full month since the state transferred a CHIP call-center contract to Texas Access Alliance, a consortium led by the giant private outsourcing firm Accenture. Managers of health plans offering the coverage characterize the CHIP declines as troubling, adding that state officials are updating them weekly on the trend. ..... Best and other social services organizations across Texas also said they've heard hundreds of complaints from families who report that they applied to CHIP but never heard back.