By Leslie Griffy

 

California's budget crisis could leave about 4,000 Monterey County children on a waiting list for state-funded health insurance.

 

Starting Friday, Healthy Families quit taking new enrollments for the first time in its 12-year history. Since its creation, the program has provided subsidized children's health insurance for families who make too much to qualify for Medi-Cal.

 

"Children whose parents just lost their job or lost their employer coverage are going to turn to the Healthy Families," said Kristen Golden Testa, California health director for the advocacy group The Children's Partnership. "Those children will go without health insurance and will likely go without health care."

 

The program faces an $89.7 million shortfall, according to the state's Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which runs the program.

 

If lawmakers don't find more funding for this year, about 400,000 California children could end up on the waiting list. Rachal Nava, chief operating officer for Central California Health Alliance, estimates that as many as 4,000 of them could come from Monterey County. The alliance runs the county's Healthy Families program, which currently covers about 20,000 local children.

 

Despite the first-ever wait list, Nava still encourages families to apply.

 

"It's a really tough situation to be in," she said.

 

If lawmakers hammer out a budget that pays for the program, those on the waiting list will become first in line for insurance. The enrollment freeze, like IOUs sent out to companies that do business with the state, is an outcome of California's $26.3 billion deficit and stalled budget talks.

 

It's unclear what those negotiations will mean for the program. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating it completely to save money.

 

The board instituted the freeze partly to avoid having to drop any children now covered by the program if lawmakers slash funding, said Ginny Puddefoot, deputy director for health policy at the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board.

 

But children's health advocates warn that the changes couldn't come at a worse time. While unemployment in the county held steady from May to June at about 10.3 percent, the numbers are much higher than the 6.4 percent unemployment rate at the same time last year.

 

"Commercial insurance is declining, and more people are looking into the state programs," Nava said. "It is an unfortunate time to have this happen."

 

She worries that wait-listed children will turn to county clinics as uninsured patients rather than visiting more expensive primary-care providers.

 

Keeping children insured prevents uncontrolled chronic disorders such as diabetes and asthma, Testa said.

 

Nava encourages families not only to get onto the waiting list for the program but also to apply for Medi-Cal, the state's health program for the poor, to see if they qualify.

 

Healthy Families covers those who earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal, and tops off for families who earn 250 percent of the federal poverty level or more. That translates to about $55,000 a year for a family of four.

 

Depending on a family's finances, Health Families insurance can cost $4 to $42 a month.

 

Healthy Families is a partnership between the federal government where it is known as SCHIP, or the State Children's Health Insurance Program and states. For every $1 the state pays to cover California children, $2 for the insurance comes from Washington.