That number, operating now in those eight states, soon will become available nationwide. About 80 percent of America s uninsured children have at least one parent who works outside the home, O Bannon explained. The Hoosier Healthwise program is designed for working families who don t have health insurance through their jobs or can't afford the premiums.
Illness can hold a child back in school.
It can keep a child from growing to his or her full potential, Governor O Bannon pointed out. And a child s illness can also tear a parent away from work, especially if no other care is available. Hoosier Healthwise should be a big comfort to parents as well as a big help to tens of thousands of children, getting them the health care they need to grow up healthy and strong, he said. Hoosier Healthwise is Indiana s Medicaid health care program for children, pregnant women and low-income families. Governor O Bannon and the Indiana General Assembly expanded it as of last July 1 to include an additional 36,000 Indiana children.