San Mateo County Officials To Vote on Funds for Healthy Kids Initiative
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is planning to vote today on a plan to provide funds for the county's proposed Healthy Kids project, which would provide universal health care to 17,000 uninsured children, the San Mateo County Times reports (Whitney, San Mateo County Times, 10/22). The program, which the county launched in March with Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenue, guarantees health coverage for county children from birth to age six, regardless of immigration status or household income (California Healthline, 3/8). In September, the Board voted to allocate $2.7 million a year for the next five years to fund the program. Today's vote would secure the funding (San Mateo County Times, 10/22). The county also plans to use an additional $5 million from private donors, corporations and the Peninsula Community Foundation to expand the program to cover county children from birth to age 18. In addition, the expanded program will include outreach programs to help enroll uninsured county families in public health insurance programs. County health officials hope to launch the expanded program by Jan. 1, 2003 (California Healthline, 5/20). County Manager John Maltbie said, "Health care for children is about prevention and cost-avoidance. [This is] the right policy and it makes good economic sense" (San Mateo County Times, 10/22).
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