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Sign the Children's Health Care Petition
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a message to the President:
Tell him to sign the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) bill.
The High Cost of Health Insurance for Californians
Living in one of the most expensive states in the nation, Californians are forced to pay more on groceries, more on housing, more on transportation, and not surprisingly, more on health care.
That’s why California’s Healthy Families program is so important. This program is a vital resource for working parents who can’t afford health insurance.
Healthy Families provides health, dental and vision coverage for children in families earning up to 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. That’s $42,925 for a family of 3, or $51,625 for a family of 4.
If you are a working parent who can’t find a way to provide health insurance for your children, I urge you to look into Healthy Families.
Since its creation in 1998, Healthy Families has been very successful:
- California’s rate of uninsured children dropped from 21 percent in 1998 to 14 percent in 2005.
- And at the end of 2006, the program was providing coverage for 770,000 children.
I encourage you to look into whether this program can help your family too.
Reauthorizing the Federal Children’s Health Insurance Program
Healthy Families, and similar programs in states across the country, are funded by the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program. But without action, this program will expire on September 30, 2007.
To prevent this vital program from disappearing, the Senate is considering a bipartisan bill to reauthorize and expand it. This bill would increase our investment by $35 billion, covering 3.2 million additional children.
This legislation would also allow states to expand their programs to cover families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $61,950 for a family of four. This is critical for high cost states like California.
For more information, and to find out if your child is eligible for coverage, visit the Healthy Families website: www.healthyfamilies.ca.gov.
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