San Jose Mercury News
Opinion Page
February 3, 2000

Prescription for healthy kids
First, sign up for the program
By Barbara Egbert

It happens every time. All I have to do is mention the Healthy Families program in an editorial and the phone starts ringing.

I should be flattered. People are not only reading my stuff, they're responding, asking how to sign up.

But instead, I'm worried.

Healthy Families is California's versiion of the Children's Health Insurance Program. The federal government matches state money to provide insurance to children in working poor families, those who make too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal but who don't get insurance through their employers.

It's a good program; the benefits are the same as what state employees get, with medical, dental and vision services, and premiums are low. There's a big need; California has about 2 million children who lack health insurance, and the number is getting bigger every day.

But why are these people calling me? Let's face it, most of the working parents who qualify for Healthy Families don't begin their day with a cup of Starbucks and the Mercury News carefully folded to the Opinion pages. They start their day with a frantic rush to get the kids to school without making Mom late for her day job and without waking Dad, who works the night shift. Their source of information is most likely the evening news on TV.

If the small percentage of people who qualify for subsidized insurance and read the Mercury News Opinion pages and go to the trouble of tracking me down don't already know about Healthy Families, then common sense tells me there's a huge number of people out there who need this program but don't know it exists.

Healthy Families started in 1998 with high hopes. But early sign-ups were disappointingly slow. They picked up in 1999, thanks to an easier application form, more outreach efforts and public assurance that Healthy Families membership would not endanger immigrants' residency status. But much more aggressive outreach is needed, as well as coordination among agencies.

The children who qualify for low-cost Healthy Families (and, at lower income levels, for no-cost Medi-Cal) tend to be the same kids who qualify for the federally funded school lunch program. Schools that voluntarily staple a Healthy Families flier to the school lunch application form report gratifying results. All school districts should be doing this.

Creative ways to reach families with infants and preschoolers also need to be found. The income level for Healthy Familes was recently raised to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, so a working mother with two children and an income of $34,000, for example, is now eligible to apply.

The need is there; the programs are there. We need to do a better job of linking them.

And now for the details. Information and application forms for both Healthy Families and Medi-Cal are available toll-free at (888) 747-1222. If you or anyone you know might qualify, call now.

Barbara Egbert is a Mercury News editorial writer.