CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — As New Hampshire prepares to implement the federal health care overhaul law, it could learn some lessons from its experience with providing subsidized health insurance to children over the years, a policy expert told lawmakers Tuesday.

Tricia Brooks, who spent nearly 15 years as CEO of the nonprofit New Hampshire Healthy Kids Corp., spoke to the Legislature's Health Reform Oversight Committee about the challenges her staff faced in reaching out to eligible families and getting them enrolled. Obstacles included confusing paperwork, skepticism that low-cost options really were available and a lack of understanding of the value of insurance, she said.

"I can't tell you how many times when we were in rural New Hampshire and we would encounter parents who would say, 'I don't have insurance, my parents didn't have insurance, my grandparents didn't have insurance. Why do I need insurance?'"

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