Campaign Update
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Inside This Issue:

After months of stalemate, a state budget is finally in place. Penny-wise and pound-foolish, the significant cuts to children's health care in the 2008-09 budget will reverse a decade of progress in covering our state's children and cause much costlier problems down the road.

The state Department of Health Care Services estimates that the budget's imposition of semi-annual reporting for children covered by Medi-Cal will result in 175,000 children losing their coverage by 2010 because parents will not be able to keep up with the additional bureaucratic red tape. By the sunset date of December 31, 2011, we estimate that a total of more than 250,000 children will ultimately lose coverage due to this short-sighted policy. In addition, tens of thousands of children in the Healthy Families Program will likely lose coverage as their parents will be unable to afford increases of up to 25 percent in monthly premiums. During this economic downturn, California's working families need more affordable coverage options for their children – not less.

The children's health advocacy community will work to limit the damage caused by this irresponsible budget and hold the Legislature and Governor accountable for their decision to undermine children's coverage. It makes no sense for children to pay for the budget deficit with their health.

As this year's state budget fight comes to a close, a Congressional vote on reauthorization of SCHIP draws near. A robust SCHIP reauthorization is needed by March 2009 to ensure continued funding for California's Healthy Families coverage program.

Although the research and statistics provide the evidence, the real story of the importance of Healthy Families coverage is best told by California families themselves.

Shay Brown, a working parent in Orange County, says:

"Without Healthy Families, I would have never been able to pay for this procedure [to remove pre-cancerous moles on my daughter's arm]. Sometimes I am terrified what would have happened…"

And Kailani Burns, a pre-school teacher from Santa Rosa, explains:

"There's a fear – a fear that you will fail as a parent to protect your
child…no one should have to go through that."

To read their full stories, and many others, see Portraits of Healthy Families—Why All California Children Need Health Insurance: Success Stories for Parents, Kids, and the State. Every family in this booklet took the time to tell us and other children's advocates their story, in the hopes that successful health coverage programs continue to be there for their children and other kids.

Make Your Voice Heard! With SCHIP reauthorization on the horizon, Congress has a golden opportunity to make health care accessible and affordable for millions of uninsured children. Contact your Member of Congress, ask for the staff person handling health issues, and tell her/him that California families need a long-term, fully funded SCHIP reauthorization before March 2009 – children's health depends on it!

STAY TUNED: We will keep you up-to-date on SCHIP reauthorization. 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