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San Luis Obispo Tribune
By Joel Diringer
June 18, 2006
Without any doubt, California's children need health
care to remain healthy, perform well in school and to
grow up to be highly functioning members of our society.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzen-egger has supported the notion
of health coverage for all children and this year proposed
a down payment on his promise by funding local children's
health initiatives that provide health insurance to all
children.
The Legislature is divided on the governor's proposal.
Why are some members opposed to supporting the governor's
proposal? Because some of these local children are children
of undocumented immigrants.
In San Luis Obispo County, we have been leaders in
this statewide movement of local private-public partnerships
known as Children's Health Initiatives. Our goal is to
enroll all children in available health care programs
such as Healthy Families and Medi-Cal while providing
health insurance through our local program, Healthy Kids,
for ineligible, lower-income children. We have been so
successful that we now have a waiting list of 300 children.
Disease does not discriminate on the basis of immigration
status; nor do we. Nor do we impose on children the "sins" of
their parents. These children are in our county, going
to our schools and are the future citizens of the Central
Coast. Besides, we are already paying for health care
for these children, but in a haphazard and more expensive
way--the emergency room. We have developed a system of
emphasizing preventive care, and we need our legislators'
support.
State Sen. Abel Maldonado supported universal coverage
for children last year, and we urge his continued support.
Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee did not support last year's
legislation, but has the opportunity this year to help
us locally to continue to provide cost-effective and
quality health care to all our children.
San Luis Obispo attorney Joel Diringer is on the board
of directors of the Children's Health Initiative of San
Luis Obispo County.
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