Contact: Margaret Hoyos
(213) 251-8088
(949) 212-8970 (cell)
LOS ANGELES - With more than 325,000 uninsured kids living in Los Angeles County, Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association, will testify with local labor and health plan officials about solutions to this health insurance crisis at a hearing Thursday before the Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth, and Their Families.
Johnson will discuss how teachers are making a difference. The unprecedented "Teachers for Healthy Kids" partnership between the 335,000-member CTA and the California Association of Health Plans (CAHP) is helping to educate parents and communities about the state's Healthy Families public insurance program, which offers low-cost or no-cost health insurance to lower-income kids. Nearly one million children are uninsured in California - many of them living in Los Angeles County, Johnson said.
"Teachers can't teach to an empty desk," Johnson said. "Tens of thousands of children are eligible for the state's public insurance coverage, but simply don't know about it. To give students a better chance to learn, educators are urging the city of Los Angeles to work with our 'Teachers for Healthy Kids' project to publicize this solution in schools and communities."
WHAT: Health care crisis hearing on the uninsured by the Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth, and Their Families.
WHEN: 10 a.m.-noon Thursday, March 13.
WHERE: Los Angeles City Hall, city council chambers, 200 North Spring St.
SPEAKERS: They include Mayor James Hahn; CTA President Wayne Johnson; John Perez, president of United Teachers Los Angeles; Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment; Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Governor Romer and school board members Jose Huizar, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke; Dr. Helen DuPlessis, medical director of LA Care.