State Programs

Although California lags behind other states in insuring children of low-income working families, the state could provide assistance by building on existing public health programs. This report provides a primer on the problems of low-income uninsured children and explores the public policy building blocks needed to adequately and affordably insure them. Chapter 1 discusses the problems that arise when working parents are unable to afford health insurance, including trends in insurance coverage that work against working families and the lack of enrollment of eligible children in the Medi-Cal program. Chapter 2 deals with the impact of lack of health insurance on children and presents findings relating lack of insurance to limited access to a broad range of health services, lack of medical care, and lowered likelihood of having a known health care provider to follow the child's development. Chapter 3 documents gaps in the public health system leaving uninsured children without basic health care. Chapter 4 presents