Healthy Families Program – California

Posted on January 25, 2010 by townsend

• State budget cuts threaten Healthy Kids effort, By Kurtis Alexander, January 24, 2010, Santa Cruz Sentinel: “The future of the county’s Healthy Kids program, which has successfully linked thousands of uninsured children with medical care, is hanging on policy decisions made far from Santa Cruz, and health care advocates are worried. The governor is calling for halting state funds vital to the local insurance effort, while federal lawmakers appear to be abandoning legislation that may have patched some of the gaps in California’s cash-strapped health care programs. ‘More than ever, we face the specter of this being the most damaging year for children’s health that we’ve ever seen,’ said Cliff Sarkin, a senior policy analyst with Children’s Defense Fund California, a group that advocates for low-income children. ‘We’re looking at many threats right now.’ Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County, which counts more than 13,000 kids from poor families as benefactors, works by enlisting uninsured children not only into a locally funded insurance plan but into state and federal programs as well…”
• Healthy Families health insurance program faces major cuts, By James Rufus Koren, January 22, 2010, San Bernadino County Sun: “About 16,000 children in San Bernardino County could lose their state-subsidized health insurance in May if legislators agree budget cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month. In his Jan. 8 budget presentation, Schwarzenegger called for cutting more than $96 million from the state’s Healthy Families program, which provides low-cost health insurance for children. He also threatened to eliminate the program, which is partially funded by the federal government, if his request for $6.9 billion in additional federal funds falls through. The cuts would come mainly from increasing insurance premiums and making about 25 percent fewer children eligible for the program, said Bradley Gilbert, chief executive officer of Inland Empire Health Plan, an insurance provider that covers about 60,000 children through Healthy Families…”