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San Jose Mercury News
April 13, 2005
Mercury News Editorial
If every generation's charge is to
leave the world a better place for children, the drive to
guarantee health coverage for every California child should
be near the top of the state's ``to do'' list.
Fortunately, Santa Clara County has shown
the way. Its groundbreaking Children's Health Initiative has
benefited 77,000 kids and has been imitated by 10 other counties.
The program now provides a model for a statewide effort to
provide coverage to the nearly 1 million California kids who
still lack health insurance.
The beauty of the legislation introduced by
Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (AB 772) and Sen. Martha Escutia
(SB 437) is that federal funding will provide more than half
of the estimated cost of $716 million. One of the major strategies
is to get low-income kids signed up for existing programs
that their parents don't realize are available.
A California Endowment poll shows that 78
percent of voters, including 63 percent of Republicans, support
providing health insurance for every child. The Legislature
should rise en masse to embrace the legislation, and then
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should prove his commitment to
California youth by signing it into law.
The financial benefits are indisputable. Studies
show that children with health insurance perform better in
school, are less likely to miss class because they are sick,
and make fewer costly visits to emergency rooms. Parents of
children with health insurance also are less likely to miss
work because of sick children.
But the best reason of all for children's
health plans, as Santa Clara County residents know, is that
healthy children lead healthier lives. Guaranteeing insurance
for this generation of California children will get them started
toward a better future.
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