|
San Jose Mercury News
August 30, 2005
By Kate Folmar
SACRAMENTO--A bill that aims to cover California's
remaining 800,000 or so uninsured children is poised to pass
the Legislature in coming days, offering the hope of health
care for many more families and potentially putting Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger in the hot seat.
AB 772 by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland,
would create a California Healthy Kids Insurance Program,
based in part on Santa Clara County's groundbreaking, 4-year-old
children's health insurance program.
The measure would bring existing health insurance
coverage for kids under one umbrella and raise the income
threshold -- from 250 percent to 300 percent of the poverty
level -- for families to qualify for state-provided health
care for children. For counties such as Santa Clara -- which
now insures 14,000 children through its Healthy Kids plan
-- the bill could help low- and middle-income children who
linger on the program's waiting list.
And the bill aims to streamline the application
process for uninsured children to get covered. More than half
of the children who lack insurance are already eligible for,
but not enrolled in, existing health programs including Medi-Cal
and Healthy Families.
Premiums paid for insurance would depend
on family incomes. The most a family would pay would be $23
a child per month -- with a maximum of $69 per family, according
to analysis of the bill by the legislative committee's staff.
"We are almost at the goal of
covering all the children in California and we want to finish
that goal," said Kristen Golden Testa, the California
health director for the Children's Partnership, which is
part of the 100% Campaign (other member groups include Children
Now and the Children's Defense Fund) that is sponsoring the
bill with the Pacific Institute for Community Organization's
California Project.
Schwarzenegger has not taken a stance on
the bill. But the Republican governor has been steadfast in
talking about kids' health care as a critical issue.
"We have to make sure that every child in California
is insured," he said in the September 2003 debate just
before the recall election. "That is the most important
thing."
To that end, Schwarzenegger increased funding
by almost $150 million to add 125,000 more children to the
Healthy Families program in the most recent budget. And he
did not cut the Medi-Cal health program for the poor, which
covers about 3.5 million kids. Nevertheless, it's unlikely
he'll sign AB 772 this year.
The program will cost an estimated $300 million
from the state general fund in the budget year starting July
1, 2006 -- even with federal contributions and premiums paid
by families. The program would be phased in over three years
with funding found in future state budgets.
Unless state tax receipts continue to rebound,
paying for the program could require cuts elsewhere or higher
taxes, which the governor considers anathema.
With fewer than two weeks left in the legislative
session, it seems likely Schwarzenegger could be forced to
choose between his belief in kids' health insurance and his
efforts to rein in state spending, which are embodied in the
Live Within Our Means act he's pushing on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Schwarzenegger's health secretary Kim Belshé
has spoken with many advocates about the bill, said her spokeswoman,
Nicole Kasabian Evans. Belshé's message has been: "The
governor is absolutely committed to this issue, but now is
not the time."
The health care bill is widely expected to
reach Schwarzenegger's desk, because the leaders of the Senate
and Assembly have identified it as a top priority.
Sen. George Runner, the ranking Republican
on the Senate health committee, is among those who plan to
vote against the measure because of high costs. He believes
the bill offers "Cadillac," rather than basic,
coverage, which could lead families to leave employer-offered
plans in favor of state care.
"The issue is not whether we should
insure kids," said Runner, of Lancaster, who thinks Democrats
are pushing the bill to try to embarrass the governor. "The
issue is whether we should have the state be paying for insurance
for those kids."
Passing the bill is not an attempt to corner
the governor, said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland.
By Perata's reckoning, the governor has said he wanted to
find areas of possible common ground -- and the Legislature
plans to do its part.
"We are determined to send him
a bill this year that is phase one of expanding health care"
for kids, he said. "This seems in obvious conflict with
his campaign to pass Live Within Our Means in November. But
we are going to rely not only on his comments made as a campaigner,
but also on his comments made as governor."
In case of a veto, however, there is an identical
bill in the Senate ready for next year.
|
