In a California Healthline Special Report by Deirdre Kennedy, agency officials and children’s advocates discussed a temporary financing scheme to help Healthy Families make ends meet for the next six months without having to freeze enrollment.
Healthy Families is California’s version of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The Special Report includes comments from:
- Lesley Cummings, executive director of the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board;
- Wendy Lazarus, founder and co-president of the Children’s Partnership; and
- Kris Perry, executive director of First 5 California.
The First 5 California Children and Families Commission’s one-time grant of $16.7 million helps Healthy Families continue enrollment, avoiding a situation in which an estimated 162,000 children could have been put on a waiting list for coverage over the next six months.
Children’s advocates and state officials hope the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama will increase funding for SCHIP (Kennedy, California Healthline, 12/19).
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.Some elements may be removed from this article due to republishing restrictions. If you have questions about available photos or other content, please contact NewsWeb@kff.org.