Campaign Update
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Message to California’s Leaders: Dropping A Quarter Million Children from Health Coverage is Truly Irresponsible

BUDGET UPDATE: Last night, the Budget Conference Committee voted to support a proposal that would drop a quarter million children from health coverage by requiring children to renew their Medi-Cal coverage every six months. This proposal is called Semi-Annual Reporting.

Not only would the proposal bury eligible children in mounds of paperwork, and thereby cause over 250,000 children to lose their health coverage, but it would also dramatically increase administrative costs to the state.

We appreciate the efforts of those stalwart children's health supporters in the Legislature who worked tirelessly to reject Semi-Annual Reporting. We will continue to urge the Legislature and the Governor to look beyond the numbers on paper, and consider the failures other states have experienced as a result of similar policies.

The Semi-Annual Reporting proposal is short-sighted and disappointing. Not only will it hurt an enormous number of California's most vulnerable children, it makes no fiscal sense. The Senate has estimated only $25 million in savings from the proposal, and the Assembly has projected that similar proposals would result in no savings at all. To read more, please see our full press release.

As difficult as this budget is for the state, the slowing economy is even more challenging for hardworking California families. During this tough time, we should be supporting these families – not turning our backs on them. Burying families in paperwork and dropping their children from critically needed health coverage is no way to balance a budget. We urge the Governor and Legislature to reject the Conference Committee's Semi-Annual Reporting proposal.

WHAT'S NEXT: The budget debate will now shift to the Big 5, which consists of the Governor and four legislative leaders. They must not accept the Conference Committee's recommendation.

TAKE ACTION NOW! Send this sample letter to the Big 5. Tell them not to risk the health of our most vulnerable children and to reject any proposal to increase reporting requirements for children in Medi-Cal. You can also call them at the following numbers:

Office of the Governor: (916) 445-2841
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata: (916) 651-4009
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass: (916) 319-2047
Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill: (916) 651-4014
Assembly Republican Leader: Michael Villines: (916) 319-2029

STAY TUNED: We will keep you up-to-date as budget decisions are made. 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