HEALTHY FAMILIES: Santa Clara County Doing Well, says Mercury News

      A San Jose Mercury News editorial notes that while enrollment efforts for the Healthy Families program are finally "bearing fruit," it is clear that a "serious commitment at the local level is ... what it takes to make a dent in California's huge population" of uninsured children. Noting that Santa Clara County has signed up 2,500 children of its targeted goal of about 10,000, the Mercury News writes that while the county "is making progress in a number of innovative ways" such as school- and small business-based events, it "is far from finishing the job." The "fly in the ointment," the paper argues, is the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has "failed to state definitely, in writing, that participation in Healthy Families will not jeopardize legal immigrants' status." State officials and patient advocates agree that, while Latinos are gradually signing up for coverage, more would do so if the INS would just "get with the program" (4/12).