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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 19, 2007
For Media Assistance
SACRAMENTO, California – On behalf of Californians for Healthy Kids, Wendy Lazarus, Founder and Co-President of The Children’s Partnership, issued the following statement following this morning’s release of the report, Three Independent Evaluations of Healthy Kids Programs Find Dramatic Gains in Well-Being of Children and Families:
"This new report documents, once again, that health insurance dramatically improves the health and well-being of children. Children’s Health Initiatives (CHI) have provided highly successful models for ensuring that all children get the health care they need.
"However, CHIs were never meant to be a permanent solution to covering the uninsured children in California. These locally financed initiatives are running out of money, putting coverage for tens of thousands of children at risk.
"In this ‘Year of Health Care Reform’, California’s leaders should apply the lessons from this new research and move, now, to insure all children.
"The current health reform proposals on the table today do not take effect until 2010. If statewide children’s coverage is not financed now, at least 55,000 of these children covered by local insurance programs will lose coverage, adding to the 763,000 children who already lack health insurance.
"It is not too late to remove this imminent danger facing California’s children. Backed by unprecedented public support to take care of kids, our Governor and Legislature should put the policy and financing in place before they leave town for the holidays to ensure that all children have access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance starting in 2008. If California’s leaders fail to act on this, our children will suffer the consequences of their inaction for years to come.”
About the Report:
The report, Three Independent Evaluations of Healthy Kids Programs Find Dramatic Gains in Well-Being of Children and Families, was funded by the Packard Foundation and written by researchers from Mathematica, Urban Institute, and University of California, San Francisco. The researchers evaluated the locally financed Healthy Kids health insurance programs in Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. Together, these programs currently insure 60,000 kids. The report highlights the positive impact these health initiatives have on the lives of children, including improvements in their access to and use of health care and reductions in unmet health needs.
The 100% Campaign, a collaborative
effort of Children Now, Children's Defense Fund and The
Children's Partnership, with primary funding from The
California Endowment, was created to ensure that all
of California's children obtain the health coverage they
need to grow up strong and healthy.
The PICO California Project is the united effort
of 20 California congregation-community organizations
affiliated with the PICO National Network. Collectively,
we represent 350 congregations and 400,000 families statewide
and are actively organizing in over 70 cities in Northern
and Southern California.
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