Advocates criticize vetoes of bills for kids' health coverage (Schwarzeneg

[Judi Lynn]

Advocates criticize vetoes of bills for kids' health coverage
By STEVE LAWRENCE, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, October 8, 2005

(10-08) 14:41 PDT SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

Health care advocates said Saturday that they were left angry and disappointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of two bills designed to provide medical coverage for about 800,000 uninsured California children.

The vetoes were announced Friday night, hours after Schwarzenegger promised at a bill-signing ceremony on other legislation to "continue putting our children first."

One of the vetoed bills, by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, would have expanded eligibility for the state's Healthy Families health care program and stepped up efforts to sign up children eligible for that program or Medi-Cal, another health care program for the poor.

The other bill, by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Los Angeles, would have set up a fund in the state treasury to pay for the Chan legislation through a combination of government funding and private contributions that would have been tax deductible.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/08/state/n132043D51.DTL

[Cha]

1. This should go over

well with voters :sarcasm:..if they would get out and VOTE!

[pinto]

2. This is one sad veto. Expansion of the successful Healthy Families

programs and expanded access to MediCal (CA's Medicaid) would help close the "insurance gap" for children of single parent families, part time workers, the under-employed, etc. While established MediCal programs provide a level of care for the state's poorest citizens, the "working poor" are going without health care for their children.

There has been some success in providing health care for children in California. MediCal has been proactive in encouraging eligible families to get coverage, but the gap for those who fall between the cracks of eligibility and affordability grows.

In the SFGate article, PICO, a grass roots coalition of community -church organizations advocating comprehensive health care for the state's children stated:

"The reality is that 90 percent of kids are covered with health insurance," said Rebecca Stark, an organizer for PICO California, a church-based organization. "The job is almost done. We need the courage to finish the job."

http://www.picocalifornia.org/index.html

A few years ago, a Robert Woods Johnson funded research project found that 16% of California children had no health coverage.

http://www.rwjf.org/research/researchdetail.jsp?id=1657&ia=132

Covering Kids: Variation in Health Insurance Coverage Trends by State, 1996-2002

Blewett LA, Daven M and Rodin H
Health Affairs, 23(6): 170-180, November/December 2004

The authors estimated state-specific changes in health insurance coverage rates for children between 1996-1998 and 2001-2002. They found considerable variation in the changing distribution of health insurance coverage for children across states, with significant increases in public program coverage in 29 states and significant decreases in uninsured children in 27 states. Children in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level were the most likely to enroll in public programs. They provide an overview of state outreach and administrative simplification efforts and raise concerns about the persistent variation in children's health insurance coverage across states.

the RWJ "research overview" has a link to the full, copyrighted article

[Trillo]

3. Kinda the opposite of Kindergarten Cop, eh?

More like Kinderthief Prison.