The Florida Healthy Kids Corporation (the “Corporation” or “FHKC”) is pleased to announce a competitive opportunity for public relations, advertising, and marketing firms (“Respondents”) to submit a proposal for educational marketing services to highlight the benefits of the Florida KidCare program to non-citizen families and those who may not speak English as a first language, to include but not limited to Spanish-speaking Hispanic families, in central and south Florida for purposes of increasing awareness of and enrollment in the Florida KidCare program.
The primary goal will be to effectively and efficiently leverage existing community resources, trusted third-party validators, person-to-person marketing, and/or paid advertising as a way of demystifying the Florida KidCare program, debunking myths about the program, and disseminating accurate information into relevant Florida communities in central and south Florida.
Background:
FHKC is a private, nonprofit organization created to advance access to affordable, high-quality health and dental insurance for Florida children. FHKC administers the Florida Healthy Kids health and dental insurance plans for Florida children aged five through the end of age 18.
FHKC also provides marketing, customer service, and administrative services for Florida KidCare, the umbrella brand for the four government-sponsored health insurance programs serving Florida children – Medicaid, Florida Healthy Kids, MediKids, and the Children’s Medical Services Managed Care Plan. Florida KidCare offers subsidized and non-subsidized health insurance coverage for nearly all Florida children. Eligibility for subsidized coverage is based on family income as a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL); the age of the child; and, for some children, special medical conditions. The FPL is calculated based on annual family income and the number of household To apply for coverage, families may fill out an online application at floridakidcare.org, download the application and mail it in, or apply over the telephone by calling 1-888-540-5437.
For families who qualify, subsidized coverage is free or costs as little as $15 or $20 per month and includes all children in the household. Families whose annual household incomes exceed the eligibility criteria for the subsidized plan can secure coverage for their children through one of Florida KidCare’s competitively priced, full-pay plans. There are two full-pay options under Florida KidCare: MediKids (serving children ages 1-4) costs $157/month per child for health and dental insurance coverage, and Florida Healthy Kids (serving children ages 5-18) costs either $215/month per child with health-only coverage or $230/month per child with both health and dental coverage. To qualify for Florida KidCare, a child must:
• Be under age 19
• Meet income eligibility requirements (View general annual income guidelines for Florida KidCare program eligibility)
• Be a U.S. citizen or qualified non-citizen
• Not be in a public institution
Additional information can be found at www.floridakidcare.org/.
Scope of Work:
The goal of this RFP is to engage a vendor to develop and execute a culturally relevant community outreach and marketing campaign promoting Florida KidCare to non-citizen and non-English speaking families with uninsured children in central and south Florida. The campaign should be multi-faceted to include demographic insights that inform recommended campaign components for community engagement and/or partnerships with third-party validators who can include thought leaders, media personalities/talent, and influencers who are trusted resources to the identified populations in these targeted Florida areas. The campaign must also include components that convert the added awareness into increased enrollment in the Florida KidCare program. While paid advertising components are not required, Respondents should consider the use of paid advertising to complement other community outreach and marketing efforts to further the goals of the RFP.
The Florida KidCare program operates statewide, and the greatest concentration of uninsured children in Florida can be found in five counties: Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach. These five counties are considered applicable to the general targeted areas of central and south Florida in this RFP. Respondents can locate uninsured zip code, county, and enrollment data for counties at healthykids.org/data/. Respondents may include additional counties in its proposal. Every proposed campaign component should consider the following insights regarding potential reasons for why non-citizen and non-English speaking families in Florida may not apply to receive health and dental insurance coverage for their children through the Florida KidCare program:
• Families may be unaware that the Florida KidCare program exists
• Families may fear using government-sponsored programs, especially in situations where it could impact citizenship
• Families may not feel they have the necessary documentation/income to qualify
• Families may not know about the various ways available to apply (online, by phone, printed application)
• Families may not know resources are available in other languages to help them in the application process, i.e. English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
• Families may not realize one-on-one personal assistance may be available locally to help them complete an application
Another factor for why immigrant or non-citizen families may not know they can enroll in Florida KidCare is that they may be unaware of a Florida law passed in 2016 eliminating the five-year waiting period to be eligible to apply for Florida KidCare coverage for their children. Prior to this change, some non-citizen children living in Florida had to be lawfully in the United States for at least five years before they qualified for health insurance through the Florida KidCare program. Since the law went into effect on July 1, 2016, there is no longer a waiting period for these children.
More information and FAQs can be found in the following locations on the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation’s website: https://www.healthykids.org/kidcare/citizenship/index.php, https://www.healthykids.org/kidcare/citizenship/LawfullyResidingChart.pdf
As a niche campaign directed to a specific non-citizen and non-English speaking audience, Respondents are asked to create a holistic and innovative approach to advancing the goals of this RFP.
The success of the overall campaign will be measured against the number and effectiveness of strategic partnerships and advocacy efforts utilized, the targeted reach of public education efforts through community outreach, the analysis of data-driven metrics surrounding any paid advertising components, as well as growth in application volume and enrollment in the Florida KidCare program among the targeted populations.
FHKC intends to award a contract(s) to the Responsive and Responsible Respondent(s) that is determined to be the most advantageous to the Corporation after completion of the evaluation process set forth in Section 4.
Due Date:
December 4, 2019
Address:
Florida Healthy Kids Corporation
1203 Governors Square Blvd, Suite 400
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
(850) 701-6160
Zimmerman PR and Headline Media are agencies worth considering.