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John Holland
January 28, 2002
Several thousand parents in Stanislaus and nearby counties will be able
to get health insurance through a low-cost program already covering their
children.
The state's Healthy Families program, created in 1998 for children without
coverage, will expand next year to cover qualifying parents thanks to
a federal decision announced Thursday.
The program -- providing medical, dental and vision coverage -- now costs
families $4 to $27 in monthly premiums, plus $5 for some services. Each
parent will pay $10 to $20 a month to be added to the coverage.
"That's going to be a benefit for parents," said JoAnn Harris,
who helps sign up Modesto families for the program and had her own daughter
covered for a while at $7 monthly. "There are a lot of parents out
there who can afford $7 a month for their children but couldn't afford
insurance for themselves."
Healthy Families is designed for households that make too much to qualify
for free Medi-Cal coverage but too little to be privately insured. It
is not merely a low-income program, as large, uninsured families making
upward of $50,000 a year can qualify.
"This is truly a wonderful day for the health and well-being of
California's families," Gov. Davis said during an appearance Friday
in Los Angeles with Tommy Thompson, U.S. secretary of Health and Human
Services.
The day before, Thompson granted a waiver that will provide federal money
to help cover California parents. Proponents had hoped that the expansion
would take place this year, but it will be delayed to July 1, 2003, because
of the state's tight budget.
The federal government provides about two-thirds of the public funding
for Healthy Families. The state funds the rest. Together, they spent about
$460 million on the program in 2000.
About 500,000 children are enrolled in Healthy Families statewide. The
state estimates that at least 300,000 parents will join them.
About 24,000 children are enrolled in the Northern San Joaquin Valley
and adjacent foothill counties. About 14,000 parents would join if the
region's rate is the same as statewide.
"We're excited to hear about the parents who will be involved in
this," said Nilda Johnson, a program manager for the Stanislaus County
Health Services Agency. "It's a tremendous need."
However, some parents of Healthy Families children will not qualify because
they already have private insurance, Johnson said.
Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached
at 578-2385 or jholland@modbee.com.
Reprinted by permission of Modesto Bee.
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WHAT: Healthy Families is a low-cost health insurance program for California
children through age 18 and for pregnant women. It will expand to parents
July 1, 2003.
WHO QUALIFIES: Generally, children can be covered if their family income
is between 100 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The
state cites this example for a family of three: Total income would have
to fall between $14,630 and $36,576 a year. Children's ages also figure
into income guidelines.
Parents will be able to enroll themselves if their household income is
between 100 percent and 200 percent of the poverty level -- $14,630 to
$29,260 a year for the three-member family cited above.
COST: Healthy Families charges premiums of $4 to $27 a month, depending
on the number and ages of children, and the specific plan chosen. Each
parent will pay $10 to $20 a month for coverage for themselves.
APPLICATIONS AND MORE INFORMATION: By telephone, (800) 880-5305 statewide
or 558-7116 in Stanislaus County. Online, http://healthyfamilies.ca.gov/
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