COVER CALIFORNIA'S KIDS

HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ALL CALIFORNIA children is closer to becoming a reality as county after county across the state takes on the responsibility for making sure every eligible child is covered.

Through its $45-million, five-year Children's Coverage Program, The California Endowment is investing in the grassroots coalitions, public education and policy reform that will help California become the first state in the country to provide publicly funded health coverage for all its children, including the nearly 800,000 who are without health coverage now. Research studies show that having health insurance contributes to better health and that children who are covered have better school attendance and socialization skills. As momentum grows, most people agree that providing health coverage for California's kids is the right thing to do.

In October 2004, the local Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County coalition received a $500,000 grant from The California Endowment to provide premium subsidies for children ages 6 to 18 enrolling in the Healthy Kids program. By building on lessons learned, Santa Cruz County's efforts are contributing to the statewide momentum for children's coverage.

BUILDING ON SUCCESS
As in other counties, Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County enrolls eligible children in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, two state-sponsored health coverage programs. And it provides health coverage for children who don't qualify for state sponsored programs. In Santa Cruz County the coverage is offered to children in families with incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that's a yearly income of $58,050. In its first year, Healthy Kids dramatically exceeded its goal of enrolling 1,000 kids, signing up 1,500 children of the 2,300 believed eligible in the county. "In addition, we've also enrolled more than 2,000 children into Medi-Cal and Healthy Families," says Theresa Winterbauer Martinez, the program manager for Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz.

"One of the primary factors for success was that we had the benefit of experiences from Santa Clara and San Mateo," says Christina Cuevas of The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, the fiscal overseer for the Healthy Kids program. "They've been extremely generous with their expertise."

CRITICAL SUPPORT
The coalition's team of 50 certified application assistants (CAAs), many of them Spanish-speaking and housed at agencies throughout the county, aggressively seek out those who will benefit from this initiative. "They already know the families, and they've built trust in the community," says Martinez. And Santa Cruz County was able to take immediate advantage of One-e-App, a one-stop, Web-based enrollment system. One-e-App streamlines data collection from a family and then transmits the family's application for coverage electronically to all relevant agencies.

Martinez recalls hearing a man who was recently laid off speak of how grateful he was for the Healthy Kids program. "Certainly for the families of men like him, who aren't working, the program is essential," she says. "But even for working parents, many employers are no longer able to offer affordable health care coverage for dependents. It makes a program like ours that much more important."