United Way of California

Sacramento-area parents fear Healthy Families cuts

Sacramento Bee
August 3, 2009
By Bobby Caina Calvan

Monique Kolster and her children are in a tense waiting game. Her daughter Elle is a healthy 2-year-old, but 4-year-old Tadd has a chronic ailment requiring frequent visits to doctors and specialists.

Sometime soon Kolster will learn if the children can keep their medical coverage from California's budget-ravaged Healthy Families program, the safety net for hundreds of thousands of children.

Kolster and her husband don't earn much money. Their budget would be stretched thin if they had to turn to private insurance for Tadd and Elle. Yet the family isn't poor enough for the children to qualify for Medi-Cal.

"I just don't know what we're going to do, what all these other families are going to do," Kolster said.

The number of uninsured children in California is expected to more than double in the coming year - to 1.4 million - because of budget cuts to the program, according to Children Now, a children's advocacy group.

In Sacramento County, about 11,000 children are expected to be denied coverage. More than 17,000 could lose benefits because of the cuts.

News of the Healthy Families cuts has brought more turmoil to families already struggling with an economic downturn, a looming school year with its demands for health exams and vaccinations, and a raft of difficult household budget decisions.

Cuts in the program could be further deepened by a loss of federal matching funds, which provide two dollars for every state dollar spent on Healthy Families. In total, the program may lose more than $500 million.

Advocates hope First 5 California, which provides health benefits to children up to 5 years old, will help, as it did last year with a nearly $17 million grant to Healthy Families.

Meanwhile, Carmen Herrera, a program coordinator for Sacramento's Cover the Kids health program, has been busy delivering the bad news to parents.

"We're the ones who actually see the faces of the children ... who need coverage," Herrera said. "Now, we're told that the families that are going to be coming up for their annual renewal will be potentially the ones ... kicked off and put on a waiting list."

All this leaves parents like Pa Lor feeling like they're in limbo.

Lor arrived last month at Cover the Kids to enroll her 4-year-old daughter in Healthy Families.

She was told her child would be placed on a waiting list - along with 22,000 other California children.

Lor has insurance but isn't allowed to include her daughter or her husband - an information technologist with a temporary job.

Lor is worried because school starts soon and her daughter is required to get immunizations before she starts kindergarten. For that, Lor said, the family will have to scramble to raise hundreds of dollars the shots could cost.

"I'm not going to neglect her," Lor said. "Just knowing the fact that she has no health insurance, I keep her at home. I won't let her play with other kids too much, so she won't get sick."

Lilia Castro and her family face other dilemmas. Her 4-year-old, Francisco, was born premature and has chronic vision problems. Losing access to doctors is a big worry as she attempts to renew coverage for her children under Healthy Families.

Her husband, a construction worker, must try to pick up more shifts or look for a second job, Castro said.

"My husband will have to work more to pay for the doctors' bills and household expenses," Castro said.

In Davis, all this uncertainty has Katie Quirk concerned. She lives at the UC Davis apartments for students with families. Her son Liam, 2, also is enrolled in Healthy Families.

"We're living on a very limited budget right now. At the end of the month, we really come up against it with no money in the bank," said Quirk, who is pregnant with her second child.

"Should we rely on luck?"

Her neighbor, Monique Kolster, may forgo her own health policy to free up money to cover her children.

Leaving them uninsured, she said, is not an option.

Tadd Kolster has VATER association - which produced defects in his intestines and kidneys.

Days after he was born, surgeons repaired his intestines.

Today Tadd looks like any other boy in the neighborhood: He's energetic and playful. Unlike his playmates, however, Tadd must use a colostomy tube to flush his system. His health must be constantly monitored.

Healthy Families has picked up the tab, saving the family the burden of what would have been tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

"Some of the bills were shockingly scary," Kolster said.

Kolster is a part-time instructor at Cosumnes River College. She pays $180 a month for individual health coverage. Her husband, a graduate student, buys his coverage from UC Davis but can't add the children to his policy.

Instead, the couple pay $12 a month to cover Elle and Tadd under Healthy Families.

"It's been a lifesaver," Kolster said.

With Tadd's pre-existing condition, it may be a challenge to find a private insurer, she said.

"At this point, it's just a waiting game," Kolster said. "We're just going to wait and see what happens."

Kolster said she understands the pressure on state government to cut expenses.

"It's important to have an emergency fund," she said. "But health care is an emergency. If we don't treat our kids, we are in a crisis."