San Jose Mercury
Thursday, December 13, 2001

Editorial
The $1.9 million vote of confidence

Packard grant to Healthy Kids program is more evidence of community support
The $1.9 million grant that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation just awarded to Santa Clara County's Healthy Kids program is more than just a financial boost.

It's more solid evidence that the program, aimed at ensuring that every child in the county has health insurance, has community support. Obtaining money from private foundations was part of the program's financing plan. The initiative also receives money from San Jose, and from tobacco settlement funds and cigarette taxes funneled through the county. The fund-raising effort was kick-started with an earlier $350,000 Packard Foundation grant; early contributors were Calpine Corp. and Hewlett-Packard.

The need for the program is clear. Since it began in January, Healthy Kids has signed up 7,500 youngsters whose families earn too much to qualify for government help, but not enough to afford private insurance, and who don't get insurance from employers. The premium for each child is $1,000.

Executive Director Craig Walsh expects enrollment to continue building rapidly, probably to about 15,000. Premiums, then, will total $15 million.

Sadly, the county also is signing up children for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families -- government-paid programs for poor children -- at the same rate as for Healthy Kids. Why is that sad? Because these families already qualified for help, but didn't realize it. Statewide, there are hundreds of thousands of children who qualify for government-subsidized health programs, but don't know and thus don't get the health care they're entitled to.

Santa Clara County took a big risk when it committed itself to making sure every child has health insurance. The Packard Foundation gift shows that experienced grant-makers recognize the wisdom of that decision.

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