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Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
December 8, 2005
By Annette Wells
It's a drop in the bucket compared to the
overall need, but for 450 children in San Bernardino and Riverside
counties, the health insurance they will get courtesy of a
new grant could save their lives.
In all, the California Endowment's $7.5 million
donation announced Thursday will insure about 8,000 more children
statewide through the Children's Health Initiatives, which
serves 18 counties.
Children's Health Initiatives enrolls children
in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, the low-cost health-insurance
programs offered by the state, as well as the county-run Healthy
Kids program.
Healthy Kids covers children who don't qualify
for publicly-funded programs and whose family income does
not exceed three times the federal poverty level - about $56,000
for a family of four.
San Bernardino County will receive $350,000
and Riverside County, $600,000. Los Angeles County is expected
to get $2 million. The money will go to the two counties'
First 5 programs, which are working with the Inland Empire
Health Plan, a private insurer based in San Bernardino.
"We're making it affordable for families
by subsidizing what they can't pay," said Peter Long,
senior program officer for the California Endowment.
There are an estimated 40,000 children in
San Bernardino and Riverside counties without health insurance,
said Richard Bruno, executive director of IEHP. Four thousand
of them are on a local waiting list.
There are more than 800,000 uninsured children
in the state.
Health officials say a longer-term solution
is needed. Children's advocates are working on a ballot initiative
that would impose an additional $1.50 tax on cigarettes. The
current tax is 87 cents.
The initiative was filed by the Coalition
for a Healthy California, which includes the American Cancer
Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association,
California Nurses Association, California Primary Care Association,
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Children Now, PICO-California
and The Children's Partnership.
In addition, funds would be used to strengthen
and expand existing tobacco prevention efforts, and disease
prevention, treatment and research programs, such as those
for stroke, cancer and heart and lung disease.
The California Endowment was established
by private donors in 1996 to expand access to affordable,
quality health care for underserved individuals and communities,
and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status
of all Californians.
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