STATE HELPS CURE KIDS' HEALTH WOES FEWER CHILDREN GOING WITHOUT INSURANCE, UCLA STUDY FINDS - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

SACRAMENTO - A state-funded program has sharply reduced thenumber of California children without health insurance even thoughfar fewer children received coverage through their parents, a UCLAstudy to be released today found.

In all, there were 500,000 more children with insurance last yearthan in 2001 - an improvement that came even though 300,000 fewerchildren received insurance through their parents' employers. Thedecline in employer insurance was blamed on unemployment and risingcosts of coverage.

The figures are being released as a coalition of health-caregroups launches an effort today to provide coverage for all childrenin California.

'What this demonstrates is that the Medi-Cal and Healthy Familiesprograms have really increased the coverage for these kids, andpicked up a lot of the kids who have lost employment-basedcoverage,' said report co-author E. Richard Brown, director of theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

But the expanded health coverage has also been expensive to statetaxpayers.

For example, the budget of the Healthy Families program hasincreased from $390 million in fiscal 2000-01 to $872 million thisyear, a result of expanded eligibility rules, according to JeanneBrode, a spokeswoman for the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board,which oversees the program.

Healthy Families provides health insurance to children who areotherwise ineligible under Medi-Cal.

Enrollment in Healthy Families jumped from about 200,000 childrenin 2000 to almost 700,000 now, Brode said.

As a result, fewer children are going without health insurance,even as insurance provided by the private sector has decreased.

The number of children without insurance dropped from 1.5 millionin 2001 to 1.1 million last year, according to the study. Accountingfor an increase in total population under 18 during those years, theactual increase in children receiving insurance is nearly 500,000.

The number of children covered by their parents' employersdropped by 6.3 percent, to 5.1 million out of 10 million children inthe state.

The number of children covered by state programs increased by23.6 percent, to 2.94 million.

Health-care advocates argue that the state should encourage moreprivate employers to provide coverage, relieving the state of itscosts.

A recent ballot measure, Proposition 72, that would have requiredmore employers to provide coverage, was narrowly defeated lastmonth.

But a coalition called Californians for Healthy Kids plans topropose legislation in January to take a three-prong approach:

--Expand the eligibility for existing public programs.

--Create a public-private partnership to allow more employers tobuy insurance for their employees' dependents.

--Overhaul the eligibility process so parents of eligiblechildren are not discouraged by the confusing application process.

The changes would likely cost the state about $250 million to$300 million annually over the long run, plus some federal matchingfunds.

'We know this year and next year look particularly tough,' saidCatherine Teare, policy director at Children Now, a coalitionmember. 'That's why we're proposing a phased-in program, with no newfunds needed in the first year and only modest amounts in lateryears.'

But fiscal conservatives are concerned that the state, stillfacing a budget crisis, cannot afford to provide more coverage, norshould it increase the burden on businesses when California is stillfacing criticism for being unfriendly to business.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,said he is concerned that the state is not effective in preventingsome parents from misusing the system by dropping their privateinsurance and enrolling in a public program.

'What we really want to prevent here is families who can affordinsurance not providing it and simply relying on the state,' Coupalsaid.

He would like to see a cap on public health insurance, and wouldlike more individuals to pay for their own insurance.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger remains concerned about the growth inpublic health insurance programs and is looking for ways to limitthe growth in his next budget proposal, said H.D. Palmer, aspokesman for the Department of Finance.

Last year, Schwarzenegger proposed capping enrollment in HealthyFamilies, but later withdrew the plan after facing strong protestsfrom Democrats and health care advocates.

'Health and human service programs have seen some of the fastestgrowth in spending over the past five or so years,' Palmer said.'The challenge is to control the rate of growth of those programs,while at the same time trying to ensure that to the greatest extentpossible we can provide services to the most vulnerable populationsin California.'

Harrison Sheppard, (916) 446-6723

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com