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Asthmatic Hayward girl pleads for coverage
as bills go to governor for signing
Inside Bay Area
September 17, 2005
By Michelle Beaver
Twelve-year-old Hayward student Estephany
Macias has asthma and no insurance. This nasty combination
has put her in many precarious situations, a fact she shared
with lawmakers and community groups at a news conference Friday.
In short, she feels bad, she feels sad and
she feels mad, but if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs two
pieces of kid-friendly insurance legislation, she'll feel
a whole lot better.
AB 772 would aim to provide health insurance
for every child in California, and AB 1199 would create the
California Healthy Kids Fund as a repository for public funds
and private contributions. This money would supplement existing
state and federal funds.
Right now, more than 800,000 children in
California lack insurance--about 27,000 of them in Alameda
County.
"I have asthma and it is scary
when I can't breathe," Estephany said. "My asthma
also makes school hard, because every time I have an attack,
I miss up to a week."
One time, Estephany's parents brought her
to the emergency room but she was turned away because she
didn't have insurance, she said. Her parents had to take her
to another hospital.
"When I see my mom worry because
I don't have insurance, I feelmad because I know that the
government puts a lot of money towards other things but hasn't
put money to health insurance for kids like me," she
said.
For one year, Estephany's family has belonged
to a local group that is at the forefront of promoting health
insurance for children. Congregations Organizing for Renewal
is a federation of 12 congregations, two neighborhood groups
and 25,000 families in Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo,
Union City and Fremont.
COR is a member of People Improving Community
through Organizing, which has been active in statewide politics.
COR hosted a news conference Friday at the Tiburcio Vasquez
Health Center in Hayward, and prepared a pro-insurance letter
on huge paper that will be hand-delivered to the governor.
Estephany was one of several speakers and
was very nervous to speak in front of all those people, she
said.
Hayward Mayor Roberta Cooper attended, as
did Hayward City Council members Bill Quirk and Kevin Dowling,
and Hayward Human Services Commissioner Lauri Baptista. State
Assemblymen Alberto Torrico and Johan Klehs also were present.
The lack of children's health insurance is
a big problem in the Hayward area, said Michael Stuber, a
Hayward resident who attends Eden United Church of Christ.
He is a COR leader.
"I know there are some churches
very concerned about the salvation of the soul," Stuber
said. "But if your body is falling apart, your soul
will have a tough time."
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure, he said. There are many people in his church community
who got sick and encountered desperate financial times because
they didn't have insurance. For children, the health stakes
are often higher.
Stuber added that in Alameda County, only
Oakland has more uninsured children than Hayward.
The multimillion-dollar programs outlined
in the legislation are modest compared to California's budget,
Torrico said.
"It seems to be almost immoral
not to cover these kids," Torrico said. "These
costs would be just be a drop in the bucket for the state."
Local groups throughout the state have done
everything they can to insure kids, according to COR leader
Pam Nelson Hollis.
"Now it's time for the government
to pitch in," she said. "We know this can work."
Among many advantages, insurance for all
children would cut back on hefty emergency room bills. The
Macias family has spent thousands of dollars on ER visits,
Hollis added.
The proposed programs would be as unbureaucratic
as possible, leaders said. They will be designed to cut down
on paperwork, complicated choices and potential language barriers.
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