The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded grants to improve outreach and enrollment of uninsured Native American children eligible for but not enrolled in the state’s Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Programs.

Grants were awarded to: the Absentee Shawnee Tribe in the amount of $149,163; Choctaw Nation in the amount of $300,000; Northeastern Tribal Health System in the amount of $290,790; Cherokee Nation in the amount of $300,000 and Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa Inc. in the amount of $300,000.

The grants are part of a broader effort to find and enroll uninsured children who are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not enrolled.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 set aside $100 million between 2009 and 2013 expressly to help enroll these children, including $10 million specifically to be awarded to Native American health providers.