Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's governor and the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services used a Portland football field to encourage families to sign their kids up for state-run health insurance programs. Rob Manning reports on the athletic angle of the campaign. 

Rob Manning / OPB

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius speaks at Cleveland High School in Portland

The lectern in front of Secretary Kathleen Sebelius bore a sign, noting that Oregon is short of its year-end goal of insuring 80,000 more kids.

Sebelius said Oregon is one of seven states to join a Healthy Kids Sports Campaign to get eligible kids onto state-run programs.

Kathleen Sebelius: "No child should have to miss activities. No child should have to miss school, no child is going to be a better student, if they're not healthy."

Sebelius and other state and federal leaders spoke with Cleveland High School football and girls' soccer players behind them. Such athletes in Oregon need insurance to play competitive sports. 

Officials want coaches to steer those athletes toward state coverage – rather than stop-gap emergency plans, which officials say can be expensive and temporary.

Hospital fees and federal Medicaid money help fund the state's health plan.