North County churches join effort to increase health insurance coverage

By: ERIN SCHULTZ - Staff Writer | Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:57 PM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- A group of local churches has become part of a statewide effort to make health insurance available for every California child.

Ten North County churches have joined what supporters are calling "Californians for Healthy Kids," a group of children's advocates pushing for health coverage for the approximately 800,000 California youngsters who don't have health insurance.

"A lot of our families are struggling and are without insurance for their kids," said Socorro Anderson, president of the church group called Congregations for Civic Action. "We've been asking all our congregations to ask for support from their communities to help us get all children ---- not just our children ---- covered."

About 40 North County church members plan to travel to Sacramento next month to lobby for health insurance reform, Anderson said.

"There is power in numbers, and we have numbers in North County congregations," she said.

Californians for Healthy Kids, which was launched in January, is made up of churches, chambers of commerce, children's advocacy groups and other health care supporters pushing for new laws that would make it easier for children to become eligible for insurance and would simplify the enrollment process so that more eligible children sign up for government insurance programs.

Two such insurance programs are available: Medi-Cal, which offers free insurance to the state's lowest-income children, and Healthy Families, which offers government insurance at low premiums for families that are struggling but don't qualify for free Medi-Cal.

The local church members, along with hundreds of other health advocates, will be campaigning for two health insurance reform bills, one in the state Senate and one in the Assembly. The details of the bills, which are sponsored by state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Norwalk, and Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, have yet to be hashed out. So far, they contain promises to invest in health insurance for children but do not address what that investment might be.

"Right now the bills are just holding a place for us," said Kristen Golden Testa, California health director for the Children's Partnership, an advocacy group that is a member of Californians for Healthy Kids.

The bills will likely address access to health insurance enrollment forms, which the group says should be passed out by more public agencies, Golden Testa said.

About 55 percent of the 800,000 children without health insurance in the state are eligible for government health insurance but haven't enrolled.

"A lot of the problem is access and education about enrollment," Golden Testa said. "We need more places to be saying, 'OK, if you're eligible for your school lunch program, let's sign you up for health insurance, too.' "

A recent survey from the California Endowment, a health advocacy group, found that more than 70 percent of Californians polled would support new taxes ---- mostly sales taxes on liquor, tobacco and candy ---- to increase health care coverage for children.

Golden Testa said her group has no immediate plans to push for a tax increase and would prefer to push for laws that don't require much money in the next few years.

"We'll propose something of a phase-in that would be slowly implemented and would not demand money in the first few years," she said. "Even in a tough budget crisis, we want to make sure our kids get health insurance."

Contact staff writer Erin Schultz at (760) 739-6644 or eschultz@nctimes.com.