Dear children's health supporters: IMPORTANT NEWS: Coalition files initiative to fund children’s health insurance! We are excited to announce that we have embarked on a new strategy as part of our continuing effort to secure affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all California children. This week, Children Now, PICO California, and The Children’s Partnership joined six other organizations in filing an initiative to appear on the November 2006 ballot. The Tobacco Tax, Disease Prevention and Children’s Health Insurance Act would raise the state cigarette tax by $1.50/pack. Currently, the state’s tobacco tax is $.87/pack, making California’s tobacco tax the 23rd highest in the nation. Proceeds from the initiative would provide funding so that every child in California can receive affordable health care insurance. 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 heart disease and stroke, cancer and lung disease. As you know, the biggest obstacle to providing health coverage for all children in California has been the cost. Governor Schwarzenegger cited funding concerns in his recent veto messages on AB 772 and AB 1199, the 100% Campaign/PICO sponsored health insurance bills that went to his desk this year. Although the bill had a modest start-up cost, finding sufficient funds to pay for coverage in the out years is clearly difficult in the current state budget environment. The ballot initiative, co-sponsored with leading California health organizations, provides us with a mechanism to secure the dollars we need to cover all California children. By partnering with these organizations, we can raise the funds necessary to run a successful initiative campaign. We will continue to work with all interested parties on our common goal of covering all kids -- including both the Schwarzenegger Administration and legislative leaders who have pressed so hard to get coverage for all kids. As you’ll recall from previous updates, Senator Escutia’s SB 437, a twin bill to the recently vetoed AB 772 (Chan), has been placed on the inactive file on the Assembly Floor for consideration in 2006. With SB 437 as the vehicle, we will continue to work on a legislative strategy that is consistent with and supportive of the initiative. ***Summary of the Initiative The initiative will increase California’s tobacco tax by $1.50/pack to fund a number of health-related projects and programs, including increasing access to affordable health insurance for all California children. The initiative is expected to raise an estimated $350 million annually for children’s health insurance. The Children’s Health Insurance section of the initiative will: • Make all children in families with incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, and who currently are not eligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, eligible for Healthy Families. • Simplify and streamline the application, enrollment and renewal processes for all children in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and make the programs operate as one. • Establish the Healthy Kids Oversight and Accountability Commission to guide the implementation of the Act and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent effectively. ***Key Differences between the Initiative and the Legislation As is usually the case with initiatives, the California Healthy Kids initiative language sets out a broad roadmap for reform and does not include the level of policy detail of AB 772 and SB 437. The Healthy Kids Oversight and Accountability Commission, comprised of representatives from various sectors of the community, is charged with working to develop more detailed policies in collaboration with DHS and MRMIB. One key policy difference between the initiative and the legislation is that all newly eligible children will be enrolled in Healthy Families – unlike in SB 437, in which newly eligible children are enrolled in Healthy Families or Medi-Cal, depending on their income. We believe this approach strikes the delicate balance between ensuring affordable, comprehensive coverage for children in California while defining the expansion to fit the available funding. You can view the full text of the initiative at http://www.100percentcampaign.org/assets/pdf/misc-tobacco-legislation-051020.pdf The most relevant sections are 3 and 7. ***The Coalition The initiative was filed by the Coalition for a Healthy California, a newly formed coalition including the following organizations: 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. ***Next Steps We are eager to hear your suggestions for making this 2006 effort successful. Over the next few weeks, we will keep you up to date with additional information and opportunities to answer your questions, hear your feedback, and strategize together about how to mount the strongest possible push in 2006. In addition, please check the 100% Campaign (http://www.100percentcampaign.org) and PICO (http://www.picocalifornia.org) web sites where we will post additional materials as they become available. ***For more information and contacts, please view the press release and fact sheet. Press Release: http://www.100percentcampaign.org/resources/articles/2005/pr- 051020.htm Fact Sheet: http://www.100percentcampaign.org/resources/publications/fs- 051020.htm Thank you for the tremendous team effort that has gotten us this far so quickly. We look forward to working with you to finish the job of making sure that every child in California – every child – has the health insurance coverage they need to grow up strong and healthy. ************************************************************************ How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe Send an email to info@100percentcampaign.org and include one of the following messages in the BODY of the email: SUBSCRIBE UNSUBSCRIBE ************************************************************************