Children’s Healthcare Program Fills a Need
It is most unfortunate that H.D. Palmer, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance spokesman, considers the growth in Healthy Families, a state insurance program for children, as “unsustainable” (April 7). It is funded by a 2-1 federal-state dollar match. A primary reason why there has been a quadrupling of Healthy Families caseloads is that when the program began in 1998, during the Wilson administration, it was hampered by a daunting 28-page enrollment form. Fortunately, this has changed.
Today, outreach efforts by public and private agencies are succeeding, although about 300,000 eligible children have yet to be enrolled. Healthy children stand a far better chance of attaining educational success. Our children are our future, and California can ill afford to deny them coverage when their working parents earn too little to afford health insurance for themselves.
Jean F. Cohen
Los Angeles
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