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The Daily Republic
October 5, 2005
By Sarah Arnquist
FAIRFIELD, Calif.--Two years ago, Anna Harrell
noticed a rash spreading up the neck and head of her daughter,
Jovaugna. She rushed the 10-year-old to the emergency room.
The nurses took one look at Jovaugna and
recognized the chicken pox. Harrell assumed Jovaugna had medical
coverage, so when the nurse told her otherwise she felt bewildered
and scared.
"I was devastated," Harrell said.
"I was in the ER with my baby, and I had no medical
care."
Then she got angry. No one told Harrell that
Jovaugna lost her Medi-Cal coverage because Harrell began
earning $200 more than the monthly income requirement.
Harrell, 34, qualifies for Medi-Cal, California's
health insurance program for the poor, because she is permanently
disabled by a rare renal disease. The single mom could never
work full time, but was hired by the Fairfield-Suisun School
District as a part-time crossing guard and recess supervisor
months before Jovaugna got the chicken pox.
"If you fall in the cracks of middle
class working, but not able to really afford regular insurance
they cut you right off," Harrell said. "They cut
you off if you make $50 or $100 extra. That is unfair."
Harrell's story has a happy ending. A colleague
at Anna Kyle Elementary School referred her to the Solano
Kids Insurance Program. A health access specialist helped
Harrell apply for California's Healthy Families program that
allows parents to earn more money than Medi-Cal.
Harrell now pays $7 a month, and Jovaugna
has comprehensive medical coverage.
Success so far
Solano is tied with Santa Clara County for the lowest percentage
of uninsured children in California at 4.2 percent. That low
number is largely due to the work of the Solano Coalition
for Better Health and its Solano Kids Insurance Program. Since
1998, SKIP has linked 10,000 Solano children to insurance
programs by seeking them out in schools, day cares and community
organizations.
The Solano Coalition for Better Health plans
to dig further into the county until it finds every uninsured
child like Jovaugna and becomes the first county in the state
to provide comprehensive health insurance to 100 percent of
its children.
"When you get this close you don't want
to stop until all the kids have health insurance," said
Jacque McLaughlin, director of the Solano Kids Insurance
Program.
About 5,000 children in Solano County lack
health insurance because their immigration status bars them
from public programs, their parents don't know they are eligible
for programs or their household income is above the eligibility
requirements.
On Thursday, the Coalition will launch a
campaign to raise local funds for a Healthy Kids insurance
program. Healthy Kids will insure every child from a family
that makes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level
($53,000 annually for a family or four) regardless of immigration
status.
Statewide campaign
California could become the first state to provide universal
coverage to every child. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger's has
until Sunday to sign or veto AB 772 and AB 1199 that would
expand universal health coverage to California's roughly 800,000
uninsured children.
Kristen Golden Testa, director of the California
health program of The Children's Partnership and a key backer
in the statewide 100 percent Campaign that sponsored the legislation,
said this is a key moment in health reform. Golden Testa said
she hopes the governor signs the bill, but even a veto won't
stop county momentum.
"The state legislation really is in
response to what's been going on at the county level,"
Testa said.
About 10 California counties have Healthy
Kids programs, and at least 16 more are developing them. County
leaders think Solano can reach the 100 percent mark before
other counties because it has successful partnerships and
the money to sustain a program, said Patrick Hughes, executive
director of the Solano Coalition for Better Health.
Why kids?
Children can be the entry point to insuring an entire family,
Hughes said. Every 1,000 insured children brings about $1
million of state and federal money into the county, and research
also shows that uninsured children also miss school 25 percent
more than insured children, he said.
Dee Alarcon, Solano County Superintendent
of Schools, said schools benefit from healthy, insured children.
"When you come to school healthy and
ready to learn you do a much better job in school," she
said.
Solano schools are behind this campaign,
Alarcon said. More than 30 elementary schools so far in Solano
County have 100 percent of their students in health insurance
programs.
Spark of controversy
About 1,200 of the 5,000 uninsured children in Solano County
are not eligible for state and federal insurance programs.
The Solano Coalition for Better Health hopes to raise $1.4
million locally to pay the $1,200 annual premiums for those
children.
The Coalition has about 90 percent of the
money committed from private foundations and parent contributions.
The Board of Supervisors promised Sept. 25 to match every
dollar up to $300,000 donated by local businesses and the
community. Thursday's fundraiser is an effort to rally the
local community to raise the rest.
The challenge grant sparked some controversy.
Supervisor Mike Reagan voted against it on the grounds that
local taxpayers' money should not fund programs for undocumented
individuals that state and federal money cannot. Reagan also
said he worries that fewer businesses will offer insurance.
"I'm concerned that we're creating incentives
for employers not to provide health care to their employees
and employees' dependents," he said.
Supervisor Duane Kromm said immigration status
shouldn't matter when talking about the health status of children.
Healthy children keep the community healthy, Kromm said.
"These are children of the working poor,"
he said. "Do we want them to grow up healthy or poor
and broken at an early age?"
Harrell rests easier knowing her daughter
has health insurance. She wants every parent to feel the same,
she said. Our children will grow up to be healthier, successful
adults, she said.
"These kids could be our nurses and
doctors someday," Harrell said. "They might think
back then at how their community helped them out and then
help out their community."
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