La. Earns $2-million performance bonus for health insurance enrollment

BATON ROUGE, LA (NBC33) — Louisiana earned almost $2-million in performance bonuses from the federal government

The federal government recognized Louisiana for its ability to enroll more kids into its insurance programs and streamlining the process for enrollment.

In 2010 the state enrolled 87-hundred kids into Medicaid and Louisiana Children's Health Insurance program.

Now parents can enroll their kids by simply picking up the phone, going online, or mailing in a letter.

The state did away with the process of face to face interviews making it that much easier to get kids insured.

Don Gregory is the Medicaid Director for Louisiana and he says the time to sign your kids up is now.

"You don't want children to find out about health care when they are in a health crisis, when they are in a dental office in a dental crisis, or an emergency room with a health crisis and you missed an opportunity to have that preventative care," Don Gregory, Medicaid Director for Louisiana, explained.

Louisiana is only one to 23 states across the country that got to see some of that money.