Healthy Kids: What We Could Lose

In L.A. County, Healthy Kids provides health coverage to almost 4,000 children ages 5 and under with financial support from First 5 LA as well as 22,797 children ages 6 through 18 with funding from the Children's Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles. First 5 LA also funds a network of community-based organizations to locate and assist eligible families in applying for any health insurance programs for which they may be eligible.

The Urban Institute emphasized two major implications if Healthy Kids programs were cut:

• The loss of health insurance coverage for roughly 80,000 children across California (and over 30,000 children in L.A. County alone).
• A reversal of all documented health gains in improving children's access to and use of health and dental care, not to mention children's health status.

The paper also highlighted a number of "ripple effects" that would result from closing Healthy Kids, including:

• A weakened safety net which currently benefits from the infusion of Healthy Kids resources.
• Decreased access to health care for adults, since at least a portion of the "indigent care funds" would be re-directed towards health services for now-uninsured children.

The Urban Institute's conclusions are especially relevant given recent developments. Last month Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a budget proposal that included redirecting Proposition 10 funding away from First 5-funded programs such as Healthy Kids. If passed, this could potentially result in the loss of health coverage for the tens of thousands of children that rely on Healthy Kids.

L.A. County's Healthy Kids program began in July 2003 when First 5 LA committed $100 million to target children from birth to age 5. The Children's Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles, a coalition working to ensure access to health care coverage for all children, later expanded the program to cover children ages 6-18. The rapid enrollment of needy children into the program strained resources soon after, forcing the implementation of an enrollment cap; only First 5 LA's continued support has ensured open enrollment for children 0 to 5, as well as ongoing coverage for these children once they turn 6.

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