Santa Clara County Has Role in Kids’ Insurance Debate
The San Jose Mercury News on Sunday published two editorials addressing Santa Clara County's unique role in the national debate on children's health insurance coverage. Summaries appear below.
- San Jose Mercury News: The county's experience launching its Healthy Kids program, the nation's first county effort to expand health insurance coverage to all children, stands as the reason why it "should lead the fight for Congress to continue to build on the funding of the nation's State Children's Health Insurance Program," an editorial states. The Mercury News calls on Congress to "fill the leadership void" that President Bush has left on the issue and approve a proposal to reauthorize and expand SCHIP by a veto-proof majority (San Jose Mercury News [1], 7/22).
- San Jose Mercury News: Santa Clara County needs to raise $11 million to provide health insurance coverage to all children in the county next year but will be hit with larger funding shortfalls in the future as some foundations scale back their contributions, according to an editorial. "Eleven million dollars is a pittance in the county of tech millionaires and multi-billion dollar companies," the editorial states, concluding, "Surely we can meet the no-brainer goal of seeing that every child here has access to health care" (San Jose Mercury News [2], 7/22).