CALIFORNIA: GOVERNOR SIGNS CHILDREN’S HEALTH PLAN

      "Just six weeks after he proposed a major new health
 initiative for children, Gov. Pete Wilson [R] signed the slightly
 modified plan into law" yesterday, Los Angeles Times reports. 
 The $500-million Healthy Families program "will offer subsidized
 health insurance to more than 580,000 California children whose
 families earn too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal but not
 enough to afford their own plans or to be covered by an
 employer."  The plan, which takes advantage of federal Kiddiecare
 funds made available under the Balanced Budget Act, amounts to
 the largest medical program in California since Medi-Cal.  It
 will begin next summer, perhaps as early as June.
      DETAILS
      The new health program, which will cost the state $175
 million, will provide coverage "to the estimated 580,000 children
 whose household income is between 100% and 200% of the poverty
 level."  Healthy Families will "offer subsidized insurance
 through private carriers who are organized into regional pools
 created by the state."  Families enrolled in the program will
 "pay a monthly premium of between $7 and $27 per child depending
 on their income and the plan they choose."  Outpatient doctor
 visits will require a $5 copayment.  
      THE REST OF THE CHILDREN
      Los Angeles Times notes that there are currently around 1.6
 million California children under age 18 who are uninsured.  The
 Healthy Families program will extend insurance to about a third
 of them, and another third are eligible for, but not enrolled in,
 Medi-Cal.  To capture the Medi-Cal eligible children not
 currently enrolled in the program, Wilson signed a separate bill
 yesterday that is designed to boost "Medi-Cal enrollment by
 significantly streamlining the application process and launching
 an outreach effort."  Times reports that about half a million
 uninsured children in California are ineligible for either
 Healthy Families or Medi-Cal.  But according to officials, these
 children, who are from families earning more than 200% of the
 federal poverty level, can afford to purchase private health
 insurance.
      OBJECTIONS
      Some Democrats had objected to the Healthy Families program,
 saying that the Medi-Cal program should simply be expanded to
 include more residents.  However, Wilson argued that Medi-Cal is
 "already an overbureaucratic government mess" (Lesher, 10/3). 
 According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Wilson spokesperson
 Lisa Kalustian said that "setting up a system of private health
 insurance assures that market forces will keep tabs on medical
 costs and also save time."  Wilson said, "Low income families
 will have the same flexibility in choosing a health plan that
 their fellow Californians enjoy.  And they won't suffer from the
 welfare stigma that's often associated with the state's Medi-Cal
 program" (Russell, 10/3).