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Legislation before the governor would
expand on the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs
Inside Bay Area
September 16, 2005
By Josh Richman
SAN FRANCISCO--Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
must put the money where his mouth is about health insurance
for California children, lawmakers and community advocates
said Thursday.
Several dozen people rallied outside the
governor's Bay Area office to urge him to sign two bills co-authored
by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, that would expand
on the state's Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs to ensure
every Californian has access to affordable health insurance
from birth to age 21.
About 800,000 California children now lack
health insurance.
"For the sixth-largest economy
in the world, this is just not acceptable," Chan said.
"There's really no reason ... why this bill shouldn't
be signed."
A state Senate Appropriations Committee analysis
found the bill would cost about $300 million in 2006-07 and
$500 million in 2007-08.
Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger's press
secretary, said later Thursday the governor will not take
a stance until the bills hit his desk. "It's absolutely
an important issue to discuss, it's something the governor
cares passionately about...But the governor needs to see
if this is the right way to do it at this particular time
given the impact on the general fund."
Chan and Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco,
said there would be federal matching funds for every state
dollar spent. And Chan has co-authored a companion bill that
would create a California Healthy Kids Fund to collect private
contributions as well as public money for the program; many
in the business and philanthropic communities already have
signaled they will ante up, she said.
If Schwarzenegger believes California can
afford $50 million for a special election few people want,
then certainly he can commit to children's health insurance,
Leno said, calling the proposal "completely fiscally
sound, prudent and conservative."
Thompson shot back that if Leno--the Assembly
Public Safety Committee chairman--wants to protect children,
he should not have blocked a Schwarzenegger-backed bill to
create sweeping penalties for sex offenders, including life-long
satellite tracking.
Oakland Community Organizations activist
Martha Duenas said California Health and Human Services Secretary
Kim Belshe told activists in April that Schwarzenegger would
"do everything he could" to achieve coverage for
the state's uninsured kids.
"We are gathered here today to
tell the governor to keep his promise to our children."
Tonnesha Pace, 41, of Oakland said surgeries
her 20-year-old son needed after a car crash and her daughter's
asthma hospitalization have put her medical bills at $50,000
and rising; neither of her children is insured, and "everyone
wants their money regardless of the family's ability to pay."
Victor Jacobo, 39, of Concord said he is
a small-businessman with uninsured children: a 3-year-old
boy and a 6-year-old girl. A few years ago he watched his
daughter's lips turn blue during a severe asthma attack, and
he realized just how tenuous his family's situation is.
"I'm here today to demand your
help, Mr. Governor," he said. "I want my children
to grow up with health and dignity."
Schwarzenegger convened a summit Thursday
in Sacramento aimed at combating the state's obesity crisis.
He signed three related bills: setting nutrition standards
for food served and sold in K-12 public schools, providing
a framework for $18.2 million in state spending for more fresh
fruits and vegetables in school meal programs and extending
to high schools a middle school ban on sale of soda.
San Francisco Health Plan CEO Jean Fraser
said Chan's bills should be the governor's top priority for
children's health. San Francisco has achieved universal health
care for kids, but many families elsewhere in California still
choose between paying rent or taking sick children to doctors,
she said.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has the
power to make sure that never happens again."
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