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San Jose
Mercury News
December 16, 2004
Funds sought for
kids health plan
By By Janice Rombeck
Mercury News
Santa Clara County is hoping to use a holiday fundraising
campaign to get 2,000 children off a waiting list and into the Healthy
Kids insurance program.
Each $1,000 that's raised will pay for a child's health insurance
for a year, said Leona Butler, CEO of Santa Clara County Health
Plan, which administers the Healthy Kids program. The donations
can be made in someone's name as a gift.
``When a child comes in, we feel obligated to guarantee a year's
worth of funding for that child,'' Butler said. ``We want to be
able to say, `You're in it for as long as you're eligible.' ''
Healthy Kids provides 13,000 uninsured children in Santa Clara County
with full health care.
Santa Clara County's program is funded yearly by $3 million from
county tobacco settlement money, with San Jose kicking in $2 million.
The First Five Commission contributes $3 million for children age
5 and under. Donations also come from foundations, including the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the California Health Care
Foundation and the Blue Shield of California Foundation.
Since 2001, when Santa Clara County launched the first program in
the nation, nine other California counties have developed similar
programs, and 18 more programs are in the works.
Healthy Kids programs statewide got a boost Wednesday with an award
of $4 million in grants from the California Endowment, a private
statewide health foundation.
Santa Clara County will get $950,000, according to a release from
the California Endowment.
``This is an ongoing grant,'' Butler said. ``That will just keep
the ones who are in in.''
Other counties and their grants are: San Mateo, $300,000; Alameda,
$500,000; San Francisco, $200,000; Santa Cruz, $500,000; Riverside,
$500,000; San Joaquin, $400,000 and Kern, $650,000.
In June, the endowment announced a $10 million grant over three
years for the health initiative in Los Angeles.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
Online donations can be made to the Healthy Kids program at www.healthykidsfund.org.
For information, call (408) 874-1701.
Contact Janice Rombeck at jrombeck@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5944.
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