San Jose Mercury News
June 30, 2005

Health plan for children expands

FUNDING INCREASED; 1,000 MORE TO GET LOW-COST COVERAGE

By Karen de Sá

This week, Santa Clara County moves one step further on its march toward universal health care for children.

On Friday, the Santa Clara Family Health Plan will be insuring an additional 1,000 children now on a waiting list -- providing coverage for kids whose parents make too much to qualify for public assistance but too little to pay for health care themselves.

The Healthy Kids insurance plan will expand thanks to a $1.5 million funding increase from FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, a commission distributing the state's tobacco tax among early-childhood development programs.

The commission is increasing its $3 million annual contribution to fully cover the higher premiums of children 5 years old or younger. That, in turn, frees up health plan funds to serve more children ages 6 to 18.

Six-year-old Andra is among the lucky ones. She hasn't seen a dentist in two years because her parents have not been able to afford health care since moving to San Jose from Trinidad and Tobago. In order to start school here, she had to have a routine medical exam ''that cost me an arm and a leg and my body,'' said her mother, Indra Sieunarine.

Now, Sieunarine is celebrating. She was just informed that after seven months on the waiting list, Andra will receive coverage beginning next month.

''I am so relieved,'' she said. ''I can't begin to explain how important this is.''

Santa Clara County's Healthy Kids insurance program, launched in 2001, has been copied throughout California and is considered a national model. It provides full medical, dental and vision coverage for the children of parents who are working -- often two or more jobs -- but who earn too little to bear the high costs of health care. They pay monthly premiums as low as $4 per child.

So far, 10 other California counties have adopted the model of locally funded health coverage that meets the needs of families who are not eligible for other government-subsidized programs. An additional 18 counties are developing similar programs, which do not discriminate against undocumented immigrants.

In Santa Clara County, community outreach has been so effective that the waiting list continues to grow. Even after the 1,000 uninsured children receive coverage in July and August, 850 will remain on the waiting list, possibly for as long as eight months.

''I would love to see there be no waiting list,'' said Leona Butler, CEO of the Santa Clara Family Health Plan, which administers Healthy Kids. ''That just really depends on our ability to raise the money and people's generosity.''

Contact Karen de Sá at kdesa@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7587.