DES MOINES, IOWA (October 22, 2019) — Governor Kim Reynolds joins the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) in celebrating 20 years of the Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa (Hawki) program. Hawki provides free or low-cost health-coverage to children and families whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to afford individual or employer-provided health care.
Enrollment in Iowa’s Hawki program has been instrumental in providing coverage to thousands of uninsured children since 1999. Iowa regularly ranks among the states with the lowest uninsured rate for children, in part because of the success of the Hawki program.
“Healthy children have brighter futures,” said Gov Reynolds.“For 20 years, the Hawki program has provided quality-care to kids of low-income families so that they can do better in school and see better outcomes later in life. The success of the Hawki program is something we can all be proud of.”
Hawki coverage is similar to commercial health-care coverage and includes, but is not limited to, doctor and dentist visits, immunizations, emergency-care, inpatient hospital services, prescription medicines, eyeglasses, and vision exams. The Hawki Dental-Only program, which started in 2014, provides preventive dental-health services to Iowa’s most vulnerable children (under the age of 19).
“Today, there are more than 60,000 children in Iowa who receive health care services through the Hawki program,” said Iowa Medicaid Director Mike Randol. “For 20 years, the Hawki program has been focused on helping children stay healthy.”
More information on the Hawki program can be found on the DHS website.
