Campaign Update
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Make Your Voice Heard Now:
California’s Children’s Health At Stake!

DECISIONS ABOUT CHILDREN’S HEALTH BEING MADE NOW:  The most critical state budget item for children’s health may be decided as early as this Thursday.  This proposal, known as Semi-Annual Reporting, would require that children submit paperwork to re-enroll in Medi-Cal coverage twice a year, forcing families to keep up with and be confused by mounds of additional paperwork. Over time, this seemingly innocuous policy would lead to 471,500 eligible children losing their health insurance, increasing the number of California’s uninsured children by more than 60 percent.

The future of children’s health coverage currently rests in the hands of the Budget Conference Committee, a bi-partisan group of six legislators. Senators Denise Ducheny and Michael Machado have the key votes. Please call them BEFORE THURSDAY and tell them to reject the Semi-Annual Reporting proposal.

* If you live in either of these members’ districts, make sure to reach out to her/his district office.

Tell Senators Ducheny and Machado that they must reject the Semi-Annual Reporting proposal.  Let them know that:

• California has made tremendous progress over the past decade to cover California’s uninsured children. Conferees would undo that progress if they support Semi-Annual Reporting. This single cut alone would increase the number of uninsured children in the state by 471,500, or 60 percent!

• Semi-Annual Reporting is in effect an eligibility cut – it would reduce state costs by purposefully creating barriers for eligible children.

• Switching to Semi-Annual Reporting would save California little, if any, money. The Senate estimates that this proposal would only save $25 million and, in fact, the Assembly does not anticipate any savings due to increased administration and higher health care costs.

• The budget situation is bleak for the state and its policymakers; however, at the same time, low-income working families are struggling with hardships of their own in this economic downturn. Now is absolutely the wrong time to make it harder for families to keep their children insured and healthy. Instead, we should protect the most vulnerable; taking away children’s health insurance is no way to do that.

• When children don’t have health insurance, the state sees increased medical costs due to emergency room visits. Furthermore, the health care system as a whole will foot the bill for increases in uncompensated care; this affects us all.

You can also send this sample letter to the Members of the Conference Committee.

Attention Los Angeles Area Residents: GET INVOLVED: Let’s Protect the Health and Well-Being of Seniors and Children! You are invited to join in a rally on Friday, June 27 at 12:00 PM to protest state budget cuts. Meet at the Korean Resource Center at 11:00 AM or the Governor’s office in downtown Los Angeles, 300 S Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. For questions, contact Caroline Lee at CL@krcla.org or 323-937-3718.

STAY TUNED: We will keep you up-to-date as the Budget Conference Committee continues to close out items that will impact the state for years to come. For more information, please contact Tim Morrison at tmorrison@childrennow.org or 510-763-2444 x122.

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of The Children's Partnership, Children Now and Children's Defense Fund, 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