Many Kids Uninsured in Southern California Legislative Districts
In 2007, legislative districts that include Riverside and San Bernardino counties had the highest percentages of uninsured children in California, according to data the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released Wednesday, the Riverside Press Enterprise reports.
E. Richard Brown, the center's director, said that researchers found higher rates of uninsured children in less affluent areas, noting that he also expected California's Central Valley to have a high percentage of kids without health care coverage (Hines, Riverside Press Enterprise, 2/4).
Brown said, "Families with low or moderate incomes often work for employers that don't make health insurance available to their workers and these families usually cannot afford the soaring costs of coverage purchased directly from insurers."
Conversely, legislative districts that include San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties had the lowest percentages of uninsured children.
The research is based on 2007 data from the California Health Interview Survey (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research release, 2/4).
Implications
Brown said the data demonstrated the need for lawmakers to adopt changes that help children get enrolled in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and retain coverage.Â
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program, and Healthy Families is its version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
California Endowment President and CEO Robert Ross said that the number of uninsured kids likely has increased along with unemployment (Riverside Press Enterprise, 2/4).
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