H: Heath Care For All Kids

After months of stalemate, a state budget is finally in place. Penny-wise and pound-foolish, the significant cuts to children's health care in the 2008-09 budget will reverse a decade of progress in covering our state's children and cause much costlier problems down the road.

Mindful Living: Healthy Churches, Healthy People, Healthy Planet: Learn about the World of Toxics

October 9-11, 2008
Lake Geneva Christian Center, Alexandria, Minnesota

Cross-posted at MotherTalkers.com.

Here is yet another anecdote about our broken healthcare system.

My father's company is asking all workers to take a blood test for cholesterol, prostate cancer and other illnesses. If the employees are not healthy, the company plans to force them on a diet or raise their health insurance rates by $1,500.

"Is that even legal?" I asked him.

Take Five Minutes to Tell Your Legislators not to Cut Children’s Health!

Behind closed doors, the Big 5 – our four legislative leaders and Governor Schwarzenegger – are working to finalize California’s budget. Among the key items for debate remains the Semi-Annual Reporting proposal for children enrolled in Medi-Cal.

Right now, approximately 763,000 kids don't have healthcare coverage -- a number that is going up each year. In fact, now 1 in 8 kids nationwide don't have healthcare coverage, many more than just last year. Despite the outcry from many Californians, the legislature just isn't getting the message that all kids need healthcare coverage.

Last Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger released a proposal for Phase 1 of “Health Care Reform” in California [visit the (temporary) website http://opr.ca.gov/temp/ for details of the plan]. Disappointingly, this first phase of health care reform omits any policy that would expand health coverage to children.

Last week, in a heartless act of fiscal folly, the California Budget Conference Committee voted to increase red tape for children with Medi-Cal coverage by requiring families to re-enroll in the program every six months.

Last night, California’s Budget Conference Committee voted to support a proposal that would drop a quarter million children from health coverage by requiring children to renew their Medi-Cal coverage every six months. This proposal is called Semi-Annual Reporting.

Dear CA MomsRising.org member,

Paperwork a new hazard to California's children? Unfortunately, it could be. In an effort to cut the budget, legislators are considering a truly twisted tactic right now: Cutting eligible kids off healthcare coverage by increasing red tape. The result -- more than 471,000 children could lose their health insurance.[1]

DECISIONS ABOUT CHILDREN’S HEALTH BEING MADE NOW: The most critical California state budget item for children’s health may be decided as early as this Thursday.