Even with tens of thousands enrolled in Mississippi and Louisiana&8217;s Children&8217;s Health Insurance Programs, thousands more eligible children are still not signed up, according to state officials.

The program provides health insurance for youth ages 19 and younger from households that meet certain income guidelines &8212; up to $3,142 a month for a family of four, for example.

Health services covered by CHIP include primary care doctor visits, preventive and emergency care, immunizations, prescription drugs, hospitalization, home health care and many other services.

That&8217;s especially good news for an area that&8217;s been hit with thousands of layoffs from recent years, including the closings of International Paper, Titan Tire and Johns Manville.

More good news: the number of children enrolled in the program has increased since the late 1990s, when the programs were first started using a combination of federal and state funds.

&8220;It&8217;s an ever-changing population, so numbers are hard to nail down,&8221; said Francis Rullan, director of public relations for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid.

Moreover, Rullan said the federal government prohibits Mississippi from giving out enrollment numbers for specific counties.

This much is known: as of this September, 65,882 children were enrolled in Mississippi&8217;s CHIP program statewide.

&8220;There were 500 enrolled when (Governor Ronnie) Musgrove took office and 50,000 when he left,&8221; Rullan said.

Those numbers only tell part of the story, Rullan said. Outreach programs seeking to find and enroll CHIP eligibles also found many children who were eligible, and were subsequently for Medicaid benefits.

&8220;For every child we signed up for CHIP, we signed up three for Medicaid,&8221; which has different income criteria, Rullan said.

In Louisiana, the number of enrollees is increasing as well.

As of September of last year, the last date such a report was generated, there were an estimated 4,900 children in Department of Health and Hospitals Region VI that were eligible for, but not enrolled in, that state&8217;s CHIP program.

Mostly through media campaigns, especially during the back-to-school months of August and September, DHH is chipping away at those numbers.

One year ago, 3,720 of those ages 19 and younger in Concordia Parish, and 3,720 in neighboring Catahoula Parish, were signed up for CHIP. As of September of this year, Concordia had 3,823 enrollees; Catahoula, 1,765.

Enrollment more than 100 children in a given year in just one parish &8220;is a significant number,&8221; said Bob Johanessen, spokesman for DHH.

Still, that leaves thousands more in each state not enrolled for benefits they can legally receive &8212; and some working parents struggling to find ways to care for their children&8217;s health.

But the process of enrolling is as simple as calling a toll-free number during business hours, officials said.

In Mississippi, call (877) KIDS-NOW, or (877) 543-7669. In Louisiana, call (877) 2-LACHIP, or (877) 252-2447.

Nita McCann

is city editor of The Natchez Democrat. You can reach her at (601) 445-3554 or by e-mail at nita.mccann @natchezdemocrat.com.