San Jose Mercury News
Opinion Page
March 14 , 2001

Outreach program works; now the challenge is to keep kids enrolled
Children's Health Initiative Feels Fine

Editorial

Santa Clara County is taking the lead in making sure all children get signed up for health insurance. But that's only the first step.

Making sure those kids continue to be insured in the years ahead - whether through Medi-Cal, the state's Healthy Families program or the county's Healthy Kids program - is also important.

Community activists were sure that there was a need for low-cost health insurance in Santa Clara County. But even they are surprised that 5,000 youngsters have signed up through the Children's Health Initiative since the first of the year. They had expected about 500. Sunday's kick-off event at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in East San Jose attracted 2,000 people.

Program officials plan to provide low-cost health insurance for all of Santa Clara County's 71,000 uninsured children. (Funding will come from the county's share of tobacco settlement funds and the Children and Families First Commission's Share of cigarette taxes, plus donations from employers, foundations and individuals.) That is not the ultimate goal, however. Analyses of the statewide Healthy Families program show that many people drop out of the program, often because they neglect to pay premiums after several months or because paperwork is burdensome.

Santa Clara County will need to explore ways to keep the dropout numbers low. Approaches might include persuading employers to provide payroll deductions for premiums, writing annual re-enrollment forms in several languages and allowing the community groups that help enroll clients to follow up with payment reminders and offers of help.

Santa Clara County is being carefully watched as it seeks to provide affordable health coverage for all children, even those who don't qualify for state programs because of immigration status or family income. Following up the success of the initial outreach programs with continuing support to keep kids enrolled with help make the county's program a model for other counties and the state.