Sacramento Bee
December 1, 2006

Kids' health care backed
Coalition prods governor to ensure all of the state's children get coverage.

By Aurelio Rojas
Bee Capitol Bureau

Encouraged that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made health care his top priority, a coalition of community and religious groups urged the governor Thursday to provide universal coverage for children in California.

Deena Lahn, policy director for the Children's Defense Fund in California, called on Schwarzenegger to fulfill a pledge he made three years ago -- and noted that there are still more than 700,000 children without insurance.

"Every year these children go without health coverage, they risk falling behind in school," Lahn said at a Capitol news conference. "A year in a child's life is a long time, and children just can't wait any longer."

But Kim Belshé, Schwarzenegger's secretary for health and human services, said 300,000 previously uninsured children have enrolled in state programs since the governor was elected in 2003.

"We've made significant progress toward the goal of all kids being enrolled in coverage and anticipate ... that children's coverage and coverage for the uninsured more broadly will be front and center (in 2007)," she said.

After the news conference, leaders of the coalition met with members of a task force established by the Republican governor to draft a plan to reduce the ranks of the more than 6.5 million Californians without insurance.

Schwarzenegger has said he will unveil details of the long-awaited plan in his State of the State speech on Jan. 9.

PICO California, a network of faith-based community organizations, plans to hold more than 400 "speech watch parties" throughout the state.

The organization has also constructed a Web site, www.fulfillthepledge.org, that includes a timeline of the governor's positions on health care for children and a place for viewers of the speech to rate his remarks on the issue.

In recent weeks, the governor has raised expectations. Last month, he said the state should "definitely" be able to cut the uninsured pool in half. Sunday, he went even further during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" by calling for health care for every uninsured Californian.

Afterward, his communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, explained the governor had established an objective for next year rather than a pledge.

California is facing a $5.5 billion budget deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1, according to the state's legislative analyst, a gap the governor has vowed to eliminate without raising taxes.

Providing coverage to all the uninsured in California would cost an estimated $12 billion annually, a figure that makes the governor's goal all the more daunting.

Belshé said "the governor's comments speak to his recognition that having more than 6 million residents in California without insurance is not sustainable."

She declined to say how Schwarzenegger would attack the problem, given the state deficit and his opposition to new taxes.

"I've learned long ago that when governors say they're going to speak to an issue in January, it's best that they're the ones who speak to it," Belshé said.

Coalition leaders estimated it will cost the state $380 million a year to cover the remaining 7 percent of children in the state who are uninsured.

That figure assumes the state will receive an additional two dollars from the federal government for every new dollar it spends, which Belshé cautioned is "a very significant assumption."

But Judy Darnell, state advocacy director for the United Way's campaign to cover all children, said a recent poll conducted by her organization found two-thirds of respondents "think the goal of covering all children is realistic."

This year, the governor proposed providing an additional $23 million for counties to spend on health care.

But Republican lawmakers complained the money would be spent to provide coverage for illegal immigrant children, who advocates estimate account for 10 percent of uninsured children. When Republicans threatened to hold up the state budget, Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers removed the funding.

State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, said the funding was blocked because it was an election year and expressed optimism the "political climate" has changed because of the Democratic takeover of Congress.

Belshé said "the governor has been clear he doesn't make a distinction between undocumented immigrants and citizen children."

"You can't talk about covering all children without talking about undocumented immigrant children, and that will continue to be an important and sensitive part of the policy conversation next year," she said.