Campaign Update
Friday, March 9, 2007

Inside This Issue:

Strong Support for State Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization

Governor Schwarzenegger, California's legislative leaders and advocates are continuing to push for sufficient federal funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP, known as Healthy Families in California) when it is reauthorized this year. They are urging federal policymakers to fully fund SCHIP to cover all eligible children and to allow states the flexibility to set eligibility levels for SCHIP that make sense in their communities.

For press coverage of SCHIP reauthorization, please click on the following links:

• Sen. pushes to up child insurance funds
• Children's Health Care on Agenda
• Religious leaders join in backing health care for uninsured kids

AB 1 (Laird & Dymally) / SB 32 (Steinberg)
Californians for Healthy Kids strongly supports the efforts of the Administration and legislative leaders to achieve comprehensive health reform in California that would provide affordable health insurance to all Californians, including all children. Californians for Healthy Kids is working with these leaders so that coverage for all children is a central component of any reform plan that moves forward this year. We are also sponsoring legislation, AB 1 (Laird & Dymally) and SB 32 (Steinberg), that would achieve affordable, comprehensive coverage for all children. We are grateful for the strong leadership of Senator Steinberg and Assemblymembers Laird and Dymally. We will continue to keep you informed about health reform and coverage for all California children.

AB 420 (Wolk)
Many children who are served by the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritional program are uninsured. AB 420 refines provisions enacted in SB 437 (Escutia, 2006) to improve the process for expediting health insurance enrollment for children who are served at local WIC agencies. The bill targets participation where it will be most effective: WIC sites that serve a larger number of participants and a high proportion of uninsured participants. We are proud to collaborate with Assemblymember Wolk and the California WIC Association in this effort to reach and enroll eligible uninsured children.

Each year, the California HealthCare Foundation publishes the bilingual Guide to Health Programs. This guide includes information on how to access low cost or no cost health care, and may be helpful for outreach to families in your community.

A basic description of available programs – such as Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, Healthy Kids, California Children's Services, and others – is followed by contact information for each program. The guide is available in both English and Spanish.

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of Children Now, Children's Defense Fund and The Children's Partnership, was created to ensure that all of California's children obtain the health insurance they need to grow up strong and healthy.
www.100percentcampaign.org

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.
www.picocalifornia.org