Any Meaningful Healthcare Reform
Must Include Covering All Kids

Everyone agrees California’s health care system needs to be reformed. But, as lawmakers debate how to overhaul such a large and complex system, they should set one simple, goal that can – and must – happen this year: ensuring that all California children have access to healthcare. Covering all kids is the cornerstone of any healthcare reform. Here’s why:

Any meaningful healthcare reform in 2007 MUST include covering all kids – it’s a goal within reach.

• Providing health coverage for every kid in our state is a very real and achievable goal.
• Over 90% of California's 10 million children are insured. Of the remaining 763,000 over half qualify for existing public programs like Healthy Families and Medi-Cal.
• It would cost relatively little to finish the job. Estimated at approximately $330 million annually that would be required to provide comprehensive health coverage to all of California’s kids.

Amid all of the disagreement about how best to reform our broken system, covering kids is the one thing everyone seems to agree upon.

• A November 2006 poll commissioned by United Ways of California found that 81% of voters support ensuring that all kids have health insurance.
• The poll also found that two-thirds (67%) of voters think the goal of covering all kids is realistic and doable with equal numbers who say California can afford it when informed of the cost.
• After hearing arguments for covering all kids – regardless of immigration status - 63% of voters support ensuring that every child in California has health insurance regardless of their immigration status.

Insuring all children is good for all healthcare consumers and working families because it helps reduce costs on the entire system.

• Kids with health insurance are more likely to get the care they need to ensure healthy development, including preventive care, immunizations and basic check-ups – all of which helps identify or prevent problems before they get serious and more costly.
  • For example, every dollar spent on childhood immunizations saves $13 down the road.
• Many hard-working families make too much money to qualify for MediCal or Healthy Families, but not enough to pay for health insurance for their children.
  • 71% of uninsured kids are in families where the head of household works full time all year.

We’re already paying for the uninsured from both a fiscal and public health standpoint.

• We’re already paying for the cost of caring for uninsured children who wind up receiving care in the emergency room, so we should do it in a more cost-effective and humane way by providing health insurance. The cost of doing so is less than $100 per month, while the average emergency room visit is $435.
• Why wait until a child is so sick that he or she requires emergency care when a simple vaccine or well visit could have prevented a serious illness in a child? And, why risk sick uninsured kids spreading illness to others in their community?