RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Gov. Terry McAuliffe kicked off a major campaign Wednesday to get low income children enrolled in health insurance. It’s called the Virginia “Family Access to Medical Insurance Security,” or FAMIS.
FAMIS is part of Virginia’s Medicaid program and makes health care affordable for children of eligible families. It’s part of the governor’s “Healthy Virginia” plan he launched last fall.
McAuliffe says this new effort with help close the health care coverage gap in the Commonwealth.
I’m proud to announce that since we kicked off our program, we have enrolled 17,000 more children in our Healthy Virginia FAMIS program,” said McAuliffe at a news conference Wednesday.
That’s more than halfway to the governor’s goal of getting 35,000 children to enroll in the state’s FAMIS program by the end of 2016.
“We want to make sure that every eligible family in the Commonwealth signs up,” said McAuliffe.
The governor launched a new back to school campaign to promote the program that provides health insurance for kids.
“Good health is so critical to our children’s development.”
The campaign will distribute more than 1.5 million flyers to kids in public schools around the state.
In the next couple of months, you will also start to see a television ad letting parents know about the program.
The announcement comes on the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
“We want Virginia to continue to be a great state. And as president Johnson put it, in order to continue to be a great state, that requires healthy people,” said McAuliffe.
FAMIS covers most dental and vision care, vaccinations and prescriptions.
Find out more about FAMIS program here.
