Insurance for kids

By MIKE SCHWARTZ / The Press-Enterprise



While public attention recently has focused on Medicare Part D insurance prescription program for seniors, California's population of uninsured children, who number about 800,000, has largely eluded media scrutiny.



"These are kids who fall in and out of health insurance all -- or part -- of the year," said Jeff Okey, a spokesman for California Endowment, a private foundation seeking to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved Californians.



Children often bounce out of Medi-Cal, Healthy Families or other public programs for which they still qualify when parents don't pay premiums; relocate; miss official mailings; or fail to recertify (usually every six months), Okey said.



"It's interesting that as a society we don't think that's a big problem, or at least don't talk about it that much," said Peter Long, the foundation's senior program officer.



Established in 1996, the California Endowment has set a goal of health insurance for all California children within the next two or three years, Long said.



The foundation took a leap forward this month by awarding $7.5 million in grants to local Children's Health Initiatives (CHI) in 18 counties, including Riverside and San Bernardino.



Children's Health Initiatives are public/private partnerships of health-care providers, business leaders, advocacy groups, foundations, city and county officials, public health leaders and educators.



Each enrolls kids into the state-run Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs, while also making available private Healthy Kids insurance for children ineligible for public programs.



For a modest premium and co-pay, Healthy Kids offers full medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, prescription and mental health benefits from birth through 18.



Since starting in 2001, Children's Health Initiatives has directly covered more than 80,000 California children and helped enroll an estimated 80,000 kids eligible for state-run programs. Today, nearly 90 percent of California kids receive coverage through a CHI, commercial or public health insurance program.



The new grants will provide enough funding to cover nearly 8,000 children statewide. Funding for Riverside and San Bernardino counties -- to total $600,000 and $350,000, respectively -- will cover almost 1,000 kids in the Inland area.



According to a 2003 survey, about 56,000 children were uninsured in Riverside County and 58,000 in San Bernardino County all or part of that year compared with about 985,000 Inland Southern California children with year-round coverage.