Studies Reveal Success Of Local Children's Health

INITIATIVES; PROVIDE IMPORTANT LESSONS ON HOW TO MAXIMIZE STATE DOLLARS

Studies Also Warn of Sustainability Due to Lack of Funding

Los Angeles, CA – As the nation commemorates “Cover the Uninsured Week” to focus on the critical need to provide health coverage for all Americans, two new studies released today by The California Endowment highlight the tremendous success local Children’s Health Initiatives (CHI’s) have had in plugging the health care coverage gap for over 165,000 kids in California. Each study documents the experiences that can be taken from the successes of CHI’s in order to make the existing state health care system more effective in terms of coverage, while at the same time warning about CHI’s sustainability due to a potential funding shortfall.

“Both of these studies point to local success stories that happen every day in counties across California that should be emulated,” said Dr. Robert K. Ross, pediatrician and President and CEO of The California Endowment. “At the same time, these studies raise serious questions about the financial sustainability of CHI’s that cannot be ignored.”

The first study, Monitoring the Expansion of Children’s Health Initiatives in California, prepared by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), provides an analysis of short-term steps needed to sustain recent gains in providing health insurance to children at the county level, primarily by building upon the success of California’s Children Health Initiatives. CHI’s are local public/private partnership efforts that have emerged in 31 counties (17 of which are operational and 14 in the planning states) across California. The study calls attention to the fact that local CHI’s, within the past five years, have successfully provided direct health coverage to more than 85,000 kids in 17 counties and have helped enroll an additional estimated 80,000 children eligible for either Medi-Cal or Healthy Families programs.

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	Did You Know?
	When Treating a Cold extra fluids are recommended Since it is caused by a virus, antibiotics do not work against the common cold. Extra fluids, a cool mist humidifier, and rest will likely help with some of his symptoms. Younger children, since they can't blow their nose, may benefit from using saline nasal drops and a bulb syringe to help keep their nasal passages clear.