Patricia Nazario
January 14, 2008
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Hundreds of thousands of kids could lose their access to medical care in California. Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget wouldn't change eligibility or disenroll anyone from California's Healthy Families program; but KPCC's Patricia Nazario explains it would force most parents to pay more to get insurance through the program.
Patricia Nazario: Six-year-old Oscar likes to toss a beach ball with his mom in the living room. In the kitchen, his 17-year-old sister Stephanie boils water for instant hot chocolate.
Stephanie Castellon: Mom, are you going to want it with milk?
Nazario: The high school senior says their mom doesn't worry as much as she used to.
Stephanie Castellon: As like before, when we didn't have the insurance, it's like, we always had to be worried about how much it would cost and stuff like that. So, we wouldn't go that much to the doctor.
Reynata Castellon: Sometime I'm short money when they get sick.
Nazario: Reynata Castellon reluctantly agrees with her daughter. She says she used to diagnose the kids herself, then ply them with over-the-counter medicines.
Reynata Castellon: And I used to wait until they get really sick to take them to the doctor.
Nazario: Not any more. The native of El Salvador enrolled her two American-born kids in SCHIP last spring. That's the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Their coverage costs about $200 a year. Castellon earns $20,000 a year running her at-home infant daycare. That's just below the income threshold for families that would face rate hikes in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget plan.
Ron Spingarn: ... which would be roughly $30,000. That's for a family of four.
Nazario: Ron Spingarn is a spokesman with the state's medical insurance board. That's the agency that manages California's SCHIP program. Schwarzenegger's cuts would hit two-thirds of the 800,000 low-income families enrolled in SCHIP, Spingarn says.
Spingarn: Capping the annual amount a family can be reimbursed for dental coverage, capping that at a thousand dollars. And increasing co-payments.
Lynn Kersey: The cost is already the major reason for leaving healthy families.
Nazario: That's Lynn Kersey. She runs the non-profit Maternal and Child Health Access in downtown Los Angeles. It's a well-known resource for parents with few options. Kersey says anything that limits kids' access to medical care is a move in the wrong direction.
Kersey: We want people who can contribute to society. The next Einsteins, the next presidents of this country are here in L.A. in the inner city. So, we need to find them, and we need to support them, and we need to make sure everybody's healthy.
Nazario: For now, nothing about the program has changed. The governor's budget cuts are still proposed, not final. State lawmakers would have to sign off on the proposal before California's new budget year begins on July 1st. Following a lot of debate, they might approve some cuts to SCHIP.
Reynata Castellon: That really worries me a lot.
Nazario: Hanging out with her two kids on a recent evening, Reynata Castellon says she hopes lawmakers find another way to close California's budget gap.
