September 19, 2023

Dear Colleague,

As the school year starts, I am writing to ask for your assistance and partnership with an urgent need for America's students and families: reenrollment in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage.

With the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency this past April, individuals who relied on Medicaid and CHIP for health insurance coverage will no longer be automatically re-enrolled. In effect, this means that millions of children and families across the country may be at risk of losing key coverage they rely on for medical care.

As we well know, when children are healthy and well, they do better on all indicators of achievement, academic performance, attendance, grades, cognitive skills, attitudes and class behavior.¹ More than half of all school children rely on Medicaid and CHIP for health coverage. The majority of children and youth will still be eligible for Medicaid and CHIP but need to act quickly to re-enroll and remain in coverage. I am writing to ask for your collaboration – as you engage members of your local community – to help build awareness among students and families that they need to act to re-enroll in Medicaid coverage, and to help assist them in doing so.

To help in making Medicaid reenrollment easier for the students and families you serve, the Department of Education and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have developed an easy, two-page checklist that education and community leaders can use to help families to navigate Medicaid reenrollment – complete with links to toolkits, videos, resource banks, and other assets that can help you spread the word about these crucial action steps. Our children and their families may look to you as trusted community leaders for help, and I want to make sure you have the information you need.

We are doing all that we can to help inform students and families about the steps that they need to take to renew their Medicaid and CHIP coverage. Please help us by spreading the word, and by engaging the students and families you work with to take action to reenroll in Medicaid today.

Please share this video message from me and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, on the importance of re-enrolling in Medicaid/CHIP.

Thank you for all you do on behalf of our nation's children. The steps you take today will help ensure that our students maintain the essential coverage and support that they depend on for their health and well-being in school!

Sincerely,
/s/
Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D.
U.S. Secretary of Education

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “Health and Academic Achievement.” 2014. Atlanta, GA. http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm