Newsom Proposes Program Expansion To Provide Health Coverage to Young Adults
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday announced a plan that would expand the city's Healthy Kids program to provide coverage to young adults up to age 24, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The expansion would represent a step toward compliance with Proposition J, a 1998 voter mandate to establish a universal health care system for San Francisco residents. Healthy Kids currently covers 3,786 children who do not qualify for other federal or state health coverage and whose annual family incomes do not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level. The city pays about $5.95 million annually for the program, which costs families $4 per child per month. Newsom added $1.9 million to his fiscal year 2004-2005 budget proposal for the expanded coverage. In the first year, officials expect about 2,500 city residents to receive coverage under the proposed expansion (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/14).
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