"The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, together with the Children’s Defense Fund-Texas, Mission and Edinburg Consolidated Independent School Districts and the Mercedes and Pharr-San Juan Alamo Independent School Districts today kicked off an outreach program designed to help enroll area children in health insurance through local area schools.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation awarded a $328,000 grant to the Children’s Defense Fund to support the outreach program. Children’s Defense Fund-Texas will work with Mission CISD, Edinburg CISD, Mercedes ISD and Pharr-San Juan Alamo ISD to reach thousands of children in those school systems who are uninsured but eligible for coverage through TexCare, the statewide campaign to enroll children in CHIP and Medicaid. This grant is part of the insure•a•kid Texas Grants for School Outreach. The Foundation has committed $1.7 million to five communities across Texas in the first year of this new initiative.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has created the insure•a•kid Texas Grants for School Outreach to help communities develop school outreach programs for children’s health insurance in their own districts. It is the hope that through these grants, schools will incorporate children’s health insurance outreach activities into routine district policies and procedures to be certain eligible families are aware of health insurance available to their children. DeAnn Friedholm, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Texas; Jackie Dyer, superintendent of Mission CISD; Eugenio Gutierrez, superintendent of Edinburg CISD; Jesus Gandara, superintendent of Mercedes ISD and Arturo Guajardo, superintendent of Pharr-San Juan Alamo ISD, joined Susan Dell to announce the grant and to kick-off the program.

“Children’s Defense Fund is so grateful to the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for providing the resources to increase our outreach to the families of Mission, Edinburg, Mercedes and Pharr-San Juan Alamo,” said DeAnn Friedholm. “We have a unique opportunity to combine our strengths with these four school districts to make sure every eligible child has health insurance. Our goal is that enrollment for children’s health insurance is integrated into the daily campus life of every Valley school.” 

Three years ago, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation launched the insure•a•kid program with the goal of improving the overall health of children by enrolling more children in health insurance through CHIP and Medicaid. CHIP alone has increased the access to health care for more than half a million children across Texas and improved not only their health, but their success in school as well.

Currently in Hidalgo County, more than 30,000 children are enrolled in CHIP and more than 101,000 in Medicaid. As a result, these children have comprehensive healthcare coverage, enabling them to go to the doctor for checkups or get prescriptions if they are sick. Additionally, these children can see a dentist for dental care, have their vision screened and if needed, receive glasses.

Based on the Current Population Survey, there are nearly one million uninsured children in Texas who could be eligible for Children's Medicaid or CHIP. Uninsured children are the least likely to have routine access to a physician or to a regular source of health care. Compared with children who have insurance, uninsured children are more likely to be sick as newborns, less likely to be immunized on time and less likely to receive medical treatments when they are injured or sick. Children with untreated illnesses, injuries and chronic health conditions have a harder time performing well at school and are 25 percent more likely to miss school.

“Michael and I founded the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation with a commitment to children and their future,” said Susan Dell. “We have a personal stake in the future of children in Texas, and we want to support local efforts that improve outcomes for children. We envision a time when informing parents about their health insurance options becomes a routine as signing parents up for the PTA.”

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation also has awarded a $350,000 technology grant to NetDay to help provide hundreds of desktop and laptop computers to support Mercedes Early Childhood Center, Mercedes ISD and the Santa Maria ISD."