Health care reform

Tell Congress your views about health care reform.

In September, Congress will debate health reform legislation. There are a number of health care proposals in the House and Senate. Advocates are calling for reform that would:

• Cover everyone, regardless of “preexisting conditions”
• Be affordable
• Provide all necessary health care
• Have strong consumer protections
• Include a realistic plan for limiting overall health care costs
• Some advocates are calling for health care that wouldn’t be tied to a job, others want to expand and improve job-related coverage.

FOR MORE INFO, visit Kaiser Family Foundation, www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm or Commonwealth Fund, www.commonwealthfund.org

State budget cuts services to families

Services for children and families took a big hit in California’s budget—despite activism by people who care about children. The state’s $23 billion shortfall was mostly closed with $16 billion in cuts. The governor also used the line-item veto to cut an additional $500 million (legislators are protesting these cuts). He called on First 5 to fill the gap—and First 5 promised to help with funding. The budget will:

CalWORKs (effective 2011)

• Limit adults to 48 months of cash assistance in any 60-month period
• Require “self-sufficiency reviews” for adults without enough welfare-to-work activity hours. Cash assistance would be cut in half if adults didn’t attend without good cause.
• Cut children’s grants up to 50% if adults do not meet work requirements
• Count the time during which an adult is sanctioned toward the 60-month lifetime limit.

Additional CalWORKs changes

• End COLAs for CalWORKs grants starting 2010-11
• Cut $375 million from county funding
• Exempt primary caregivers of young children from work requirements until July 2011
• Stop the 60-month time clock when an adult has been excused from participation until July 2011

Health

• Cut $323 million from Medi-Cal—plus $60 million from county funds
• Cut $174 million from Healthy Families. Healthy Families stopped enrolling children in July and will have to drop children without alternative funding. If this happens, Health Access predicts the number of uninsured California children would double.
• Cut $234 million from Department of Developmental Services programs, including regional centers for people with developmental disabilities ($100 million was cut in Feb and $50 million more was cut from young children’s services in line-item vetoes)
• Cut state funds for several community clinic programs and also Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health programs; eliminate state funds for the Immunization Program and the Black Infant Health Program.
• Create a plan to centralize (and likely privatize) eligibility and enrollment for Medi-Cal, food stamps, and CalWORKs.

Child care and development

• Eliminate the school-age community child care program (latchkey)
• Increase Community Care Licensing fees by 10%.
• Train former CalWORKs recipients as child care teachers ($4 million)
• Train license-exempt child care providers ($2.5 million)

Child welfare

• Cut some foster care provider rates by 10%
• Cut $80 million from child welfare services.

Schools

• Fund K-14 spending at the minimum Prop-98 level ($1.4 billion less for 2008-09 and $4.5 billion less for 2009-10 compared with Feb budget levels)—but eventually restore 2008-09 reductions
• Count $402 million from funds for districts with the lowest academic achievement levels toward Prop 98 funding
• Allow districts to reduce the school year by up to five days through 2012-13
• Allow districts to sell surplus property to pay for General Fund purposes through 2011.

Sources: California Budget Project, Child Care Law Center, Child Development Policy Institute, Health Access