************************************************************************ Californians for Healthy Kids Update – April 25, 2006 ************************************************************************ http://www.100percentcampaign.org 1. Californians for Healthy Kids 2006 Strategy to Secure Children’s Health Insurance 2. May 4th Initiative Press Events 3. Redesigned Web Site 4. Take Action 5. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe * Permission to forward or reprint the content herein is granted with complete attribution. View back issues of this e-update on the Web at: http://www.100percentcampaign.org/take-action/ud-index.htm ************************************************************************ 1. Californians for Healthy Kids 2006 Strategy Dear children’s health supporters: Much has happened in the effort to secure health insurance for all California children since our last update to you. Tobacco Tax Ac of 2006 As you know, Children Now, PICO California, and The Children’s Partnership have joined six other organizations in filing a statewide ballot initiative to achieve several important public health goals, including preventing teen smoking and expanding access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all children in California. The initiative proposes to raise essential funds for these efforts through an additional cigarette tax of $2.60 per pack and, if it qualifies, will be placed on the November 2006 ballot. The initiative is expected to raise $2.1 billion a year, of which $371 million will be dedicated to children’s health coverage, offering California the best opportunity to secure a stable source of funding for covering all kids this year and in the future. The initiative campaign, the Coalition for a Healthy California, is on target to gather the approximately one million signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the November 2006 ballot. Please read below regarding upcoming press events highlighting the filing of the signatures. Please visit the Coalition for a Healthy California’s web site to learn more about the Initiative Campaign at http://www.healthycalifornia.com Please visit the 100 Percent Campaign’s web site to learn about the children’s health section of the initiative http://www.100percentcampaign.org/priorities/healthy-kids-main.htm Legislative and Budget Process In addition to supporting the initiative, Californians for Healthy Kids (CHK) continues to pursue legislative and administrative strategies to help reach our goal of 100% coverage for all children in California. Specifically, CHK is advocating for policies that complement the initiative by securing changes to help California move smoothly and quickly to a statewide solution to children’s health insurance. With SB 437 as our legislative vehicle, our proposal seeks $100 million to: • Successfully enroll children in health insurance by streamlining operations of California’s public health insurance programs for children, Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, to make them more family-friendly; • Build on the Governor’s budget proposal to increase enrollment of children in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families through improved county-level outreach and retention; and • Provide vital bridge funding to local children’s health initiatives that have waiting lists and/or are facing the prospect of terminating their programs, so that they can keep their doors open until there is a statewide program. We will be sending a fact sheet on SB 437 and ways that you can help move it through the legislative process and onto passage in our next update. California State Budget Update On April 17th, the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services met to discuss many of the children’s health proposals in the 2006-07 Budget, including the Governor’s proposal to dedicate $35 million general fund to increase enrollment in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families. While the Governor’s proposal is a commendable start, we believe that much more can be done to cover ALL children. CHK was in attendance at the April 17th hearing and supported many of the committee’s recommendations to increase enrollment in children’s health coverage, including: • Simplifying the Healthy Families application process to allow children to enroll in Healthy Families before payment of premiums and choosing a health plan. • Redirecting the Governor’s proposals to fund an outreach media campaign and extra incentive payments to Certified Application Assistants. • Expanding the availability of Health-e-App so that more families can apply for health coverage electronically. CHK urged the subcommittee to redirect the funding originally assigned to the media campaign and CAA incentive payments into further support for county-based outreach and retention efforts. CHK also advised the committee of structural changes, including improving enrollment gateways, which would increase the enrollment of many currently-eligible children. Finally, CHK advocated that the subcommittee include funding in the budget to support local Children’s Health Initiatives who are currently struggling financially and are therefore unable to provide health coverage to children eligible for their programs. While these proposals were not considered by the subcommittee at the hearing, CHK continues to advocate for these policies as the Budget process unfolds. The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health plans to address children’s health issues when it meets on May 1st. CHK is currently working closely with Assembly Budget staff and key legislators to move the children’s health agenda forward at that hearing. For a complete fact sheet on CHK’s 2006 strategy, please visit: http://www.100percentcampaign.org/resources/publications/fs-060412.htm ************************************************************************ 2. May 4th PRESS EVENT: Delivery of Signatures for Initiative Volunteers from throughout California will visit county registrars across the state on May 4th, to turn in more than 1,000,000 signatures on petitions that call for the Tobacco Tax Act of 2006 to be placed on the November 2006 ballot. When: May 4, 2006 at 11:00 am Where: Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego Sacramento: Sacramento County Registrar’s Office – 7000 65th Street, Sacramento San Francisco: San Francisco County Registrar’s Office – City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco Fresno: Fresno County Registrar’s Office – 2221 Kern St., Fresno Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office – 12400 Imperial Hwy, Norwalk San Diego: San Diego Registrar Recorder’s office – 5201 Ruffin Rd., Suite I, San Diego Members of local PICO affiliates -- including children -- will be participating in force. For more information, please call your local PICO affiliate, contact the PICO California office at (916) 447-7959, or visit http://www.picocalifornia.org. For more information about these events, contact us at info@100percentcampaign.org. ************************************************************************ 3. Take Action May 1, 4:00pm, Room 127: Hearing of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health. Come show your support for children’s health issues at this important hearing. • Ask your organization to endorse the Tobacco Tax Act – visit www.healthycalifornia.com for information and an endorsement form • To stay informed about our efforts to cover all California children, go to www.100percentcampaign.org and click on “take action” to sign up for email updates. • Join a growing list of Californians for Healthy Kids supporters by signing on to our goals: http://www.100percentcampaign.org/priorities/healthy-kids-signup.htm (ENGLISH) http://www.100percentcampaign.org/priorities/healthy-kids-signup-spanish.htm (SPANISH) • Locate your legislators: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html ************************************************************************ 4. Redesigned Web Site on the Way!! Stay tuned for a new and improved 100% Campaign Web site with a special page just for Californians for Healthy Kids. We anticipate launching the improved site in May 2006. Please bear with the current site while we work on the redesign. In the meantime, if you are having trouble navigating the current Campaign site, please email us at info@100percentcampaign.org ************************************************************************ 5. 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 Californians for Healthy Kids is a collaboration of the 100% Campaign (a coalition of Children Now, Defense Fund and The Children’s Partnership), PICO California, and more than 300 supporters, with the goal of ensuring that all children in our state have access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance.