December 18, 2006
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor of California
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
The upcoming year holds great promise for being the year that California finally finishes the job and ensures that all children have affordable health insurance. On behalf of the 340,000 members of CTA and the 40 health plan members of the California Association of Health Plans, we would ask that you make health coverage for all children a priority for your health care reform plans in 2007.
Over the past five years, the California Teachers Association has participated with the California Association of Health Plans in a program, Teachers for Healthy Kids, to help enroll all children in low- or no-cost health, dental and vision insurance programs. Our efforts, funded by The California Endowment, have led to over 150,000 students being enrolled in health care coverage through outreach programs in the schools. We have made progress by helping to reduce the number of uninsured children from over 1.2 million to about 800,000 children.
We have been successful in these efforts due to the cooperation we have received from the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs and the efforts of the Children’s Health Initiatives (CHI) that are our active partners in a number of counties. In fact, teachers have been appointed to serve on many of these local CHI coalitions and are taking an active part at the local level to help ensure that all children have access to high quality and affordable care. It is not only the efforts of these state agencies and local coalitions that are helping to reach this goal, it is also your stated support for insuring all children in California that has made a difference. These efforts have made a difference, but more still needs to be done.
We are now at a critical juncture, which presents an opportunity for your office and the Legislature to work together so health care coverage can become a reality for all children. A large part of the task has been completed and now we need to enroll the last ten percent of children. California needs a sustainable statewide solution for health coverage for children, and thus we urge you to include a plan for all children in your 2007-08 Budget. Working together, we can ensure that all children who come to school will come ready to learn.
Yours,
Barbara E. Kerr
President, California Teachers Association
Christopher C. Ohman,
CEO, California Association of Health Plans