Improving Coverage And Access For Immigrant Latino Children: The Los Angeles Healthy Kids Program (original) (raw)
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The impact of health care reform on California's children in immigrant families
Policy brief (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research), 2011
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) restricts its health insurance expansions in ways that exclude many uninsured children in California who are immigrants or have immigrant parents. These exclusions directly limit coverage options for noncitizen children. And immigrant parents, potentially misinterpreting eligibility requirements for these new programs, may not enroll their citizen children. Using the 2007 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2007), this policy brief estimates that of the 1.08 million children in California who were uninsured all or part of the year, between 180,000 to 220,000 will be excluded from the health care reform expansions due to the combined direct and potential indirect effects of these exclusions. This "left-out" group comprises between 17% and 20% of all uninsured children in California. In light of these exclusions, California's community clinics and public hospitals could continue to serve a significant numb...
The Santa Clara County Children’s Health Initiative seeks to provide coverage through the Healthy Kids initiative to all children in the county whose family incomes are below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. This brief provides new evidence on the effects of insurance coverage on children’s health by looking at how Healthy Kids affects the health of the low-income, undocumented children it serves. The authors found that children in the study group continuously insured for one year were significantly less likely to be in fair/poor health and to have functional impairments than the comparison group of newly insured children. The study group also had fewer missed school days, but the difference was significant only among children who did not enroll for a medical reason. The authors conclude that Healthy Kids had a favorable impact on children’s health.
Outcomes from Children’s Health Initiatives in California
Approximately one-third of uninsured children in California do not qualify for existing federal and state health insurance programs due to family income eligibility thresholds or undocumented immigration status. Recognizing this as a gap in coverage, several California counties have formed coalitions known as Children's Health Initiatives (CHIs) and designed locally-funded and operated health insurance programs known as Healthy Kids. As of January 2007, Healthy Kids programs were in operation in 22 of California's most populous counties, and have collectively covered more than 88,000 children. The earliest CHIs launched their Healthy Kids programs in 2001-2002 (beginning with Santa Clara and San Francisco), and these served as models for seven other counties to launch similar programs in late 2002 through 2004, three in 2005, and ten in 2006. i As these programs spread from county to county, they were supported by an increasing number of organizations including a range of California philanthropies. Two of these agencies-The California Endowment and First5 California-commissioned a multi-component evaluation to assess, in part, the contribution of the Healthy Kids programs to improving access to high quality health care for children. This report highlights findings and recommendations from a broader report regarding the ongoing process of monitoring utilization and quality in Healthy Kids programs in California. It summarizes the selection of utilization and quality indicators, and presents the first round of data provided by nine CHIs that were operational for the full 2005 calendar year. The report also provides a snapshot of Healthy Kids program successes by comparing utilization and quality indicators for Healthy Kids programs to MediCal and Healthy Families (California's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)).
American Journal of Public Health, 2007
Objectives. Many county coalitions throughout California have created local health insurance programs known as Healthy Kids to cover uninsured children ineligible for public programs as a result of family income level or undocumented immigrant status. We sought to gain an understanding of the experiences of these coalitions as they pursue the goal of universal coverage for children. Methods. We conducted semistructured telephone-based or in-person interviews with coalition leaders from 28 counties or regions engaged in expansion activities. Results. Children’s Health Initiative coalitions have emerged in 31 counties (17 are operational and 14 are planned) and have enrolled more than 85000 children in their health insurance program, Healthy Kids. Respondents attributed the success of these programs to strong leadership, diverse coalitions of stakeholders, and the generosity of local and statewide contributors. Because Healthy Kids programs face major sustainability challenges and dif...
Monitoring the expansion of children's health initiatives in California
Los Angeles, CA: Division of Community Health …, 2006
California has recently experienced a flurry of activity among counties that have decided to pursue the goal of universal coverage for children. With an estimated 782,000 children uninsured in California in 2003, counties throughout the state have independently expanded outreach activities for children eligible for MediCal and Healthy Families, and created local health insurance products known as Healthy Kids programs to cover children in low-income families who are ineligible for existing public programs. From the first program that started in Santa Clara County in 2001, Healthy Kids programs have now emerged in 31 counties (17 of which are operational and 14 being planned) and have quickly enrolled more than 85,000 children, changing the insurance landscape for children in the state. This brief describes the experiences of and challenges faced by these innovative programs.
The Los Angeles Healthy Kids program was created in July 2003 to provide coverage to low-income, uninsured children ages zero to five years who are ineligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. The report provides a descriptive analysis of 1,087 families who completed a baseline survey during 2005. The survey gathered data on children's health status, health care access and use, parental satisfaction, and the enrollment and renewal process. The survey design was modeled after the Evaluation of the Santa Clara County Children's Health Initiative that Mathematica has been conducting since 2001.