San Francisco Agency Approves Plan to Cover City’s Uninsured Kids
The San Francisco Health Commission on Jan. 30 unanimously approved a proposal to provide health coverage to about 5,000 of the city's uninsured children, the San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times reports. The program targets families in which working parents do not receive employer-based health coverage for dependents and cannot afford private health insurance. Children in families with incomes three times the federal poverty level would be eligible for medical, dental and vision care through the San Francisco Health Plan, a "quasi-public agency" established in 1994 to provide "moderate-cost" health coverage. The program would cost San Francisco $5.7 million annually, and families would pay $4 per month per child. Currently, more than 9,000 children in San Francisco are uninsured, and officials believe about 3,000 are eligible for but not enrolled in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. The plan moves the city closer to Mayor Willie Brown's (D) goal of providing health coverage to the city's estimated 135,000 uninsured residents. The proposal now goes to the mayor's office and the board of supervisors, which will "review the idea" and establish a funding plan. Officials hope to implement the program this year (Koury, San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times, 2/1).
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