You are retired and suddenly faced with raising your grandchildren. Or your sister gets divorced and moves in with you, bringing her three children. With the cost of gas and food rising every day, health care and insurance for the children is not an option. Or is it?

Louisiana’s Children’s Health Insurance Plan, LaCHIP, is now offering an expanded program designed to help families whose income is too high for the regular LaCHIP program, but their gross income is below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

Workers and coordinators from across the state spread news of the LaCHIP Affordable Plan recently throughout St. Tammany Parish. Wearing lime green T-shirts and armed with valuable information, the teams blitzed the parish, hoping to reach people who qualify for the new program — or people who may know people who would qualify. Unlike the regular LaCHIP program, the monthly premium for the affordable plan is $50 per family, whether there are eight children or one child. To qualify, the child must have been uninsured for a year.

The program does not consider income of stepparents, grandparents or other adults in the household, only the parent and/or child.

Although services received are not free, there is a maximum out-of-pocket cost of 5 percent of the family’s gross income. This amount will be specified in the approval letter.

Ruth Kennedy, LaCHIP director, instructed the teams to give the information to people, discounting their looks.

“If someone is older, remember they may be a grandparent raising their grandchildren. If someone looks affluent, remember they still may not be able to insure the child on their health insurance policy,” said Kennedy.

Children and families may qualify for this new program even if they do not qualify for reduced or free lunch. For example, a family of four (including two parents and two children) could have an income of $4,417 a month, or $53,004 per year and be eligible for the new program, said Mary Corban, manager of the LaCHIP program for the Volunteers of America.

The program is meant to make health insurance for all children in the state, affordable. Kennedy said Gov. Bobby Jindal’s goal is to have every child in the state insured.

She said LaCHIP is also trying to make applying easier. No longer does a parent or guardian have to take time off from work to apply for the program, but online applications allow anyone with access to a computer access to the application process any time of day, any day of the week. Kennedy said turnaround time for applications averaged eight calendar days in the month of May.

Some people may qualify for the regular LaCHIP program or not know which program to apply for, but the application is the same for either program, and the eligibility staff will determine which program applies.

For more information about the program and how to apply, go online to www.lachip.org or call 1-877-2LaCHIP (1-877-252-2447).