Sharon Davis Announces Healthy Families Ad Campaign

California's first lady Sharon Davis yesterday unveiled the latest phase of a statewide advertising campaign designed to increase children's enrollment in Healthy Families and Medi-Cal. The television, radio and print ad campaign will begin on Monday, while billboard ads will appear in March. Aimed at educating the state's "culturally diverse population" about the availability of low- and no-cost insurance programs, the print and outdoor ads will appear in six languages -- English, Spanish, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese -- and the television and radio spots have been produced in English and Spanish. Mrs. Davis said, "This advertising campaign was developed to inform eligible families of comprehensive health care options and to demonstrate how easy it is for parents to enroll their kids by emphasizing free application assistance, in-language services and the short mail-in application." She added, "Many families are either unaware of these programs or have been deterred from applying." Healthy Families has enrolled nearly 375,000 children, and Gov. Gray Davis' (D) 2001-2002 budget proposes earmarking $42.2 million for outreach, including $6 million for expansion of partnerships with schools and programs such as Child Nutrition, Healthy Start and Head Start (Office of the Governor release, 1/25).