BILL NUMBER: SB 59 CHAPTERED 09/22/02 CHAPTER 800 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 22, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 23, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 28, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 10, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 7, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 17, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 27, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 14, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Senator Escutia (Coauthors: Senators Figueroa, Kuehl, Ortiz, Scott, and Vasconcellos) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Cedillo, Chan, Diaz, Frommer, Goldberg, Koretz, Pavley, Strom-Martin, Thomson, and Washington) JANUARY 4, 2001 An act to add Section 12693.925 to the Insurance Code, relating to healthy families. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 59, Escutia. Healthy Families Program. Existing federal law establishes the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides funds to the states to expand the provision of health assistance to uninsured, low-income children. In California, this program is known as the Healthy Families Program and is administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board. This bill would require the board to report to the Legislature on or before July 30, 2004, if federal funding is obtained, regarding its recommendations with respect to various initiatives regarding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The bill would also include a statement of legislative findings and declarations. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, when comparing the medical care provided to a child who is covered by health insurance to that provided to a child who is not covered by health insurance, it is at least 70 percent more likely that an uninsured child will not receive medical care for childhood conditions such as sore throats, recurring ear infections, and asthma, and 30 percent more likely that an uninsured child will not receive care for injuries. Children who do not receive proper medical care can face serious adverse consequences. (b) Although all children from low-income families face a host of barriers in obtaining health care, children from immigrant and homeless families are especially vulnerable and must overcome even greater challenges. (c) These children are less likely to be enrolled in Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program than other children from low-income families for a variety of reasons, including linguistic and cultural barriers. According to the University of California San Francisco Institute for Health Policy Studies, a quarter of all Spanish-speaking Latinos have difficulty understanding the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families applications as compared to 14.2 percent of non-Latinos. (d) According to the California Policy Research Center and the University of California Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research, immigrant children are three times more likely to be uninsured and four to five times more likely to lack a regular source of medical care compared to children in nonimmigrant families. Although 90 percent of them have at least one working parent, they are less likely to receive employment-based insurance as compared to children with United States-born parents, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (e) Although homeless individuals have long been perceived to be primarily single adult males, families with children, especially young children, are the fastest growing group of the homeless population. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, between 1997 and 1998, the number of requests nationwide from families with children for emergency shelters increased by 15 percent and it is estimated that almost half of all children in shelters are under five years of age. In California, approximately 360,000 people are homeless during any given year, and 35 percent of them are families with children, according to the Corporation for Supportive Housing and Housing California. (f) In a letter dated July 31, 2000, the Health Care Financing Administration, recently renamed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, outlined the opportunity for states to establish public health initiatives for addressing health needs of specifically targeted vulnerable children through the federal program known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program. (g) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services views these public health initiatives as allowing states to develop innovative methods for addressing health needs of specifically targeted vulnerable children. These public health initiates could target barriers faced by children in immigrant and homeless families, as well as other groups of children that experience health disparities, and improve access to health care. (h) A principal goal of the public health initiatives under the State Children's Health Insurance Program is to reach vulnerable children and facilitate their access to health care, with the objective of better health outcomes. SEC. 2. Section 12693.925 is added to the Insurance Code, to read: 12693.925. (a) The Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board shall report to the Legislature on or before January 30, 2004, the following information with respect to the State Children's Health Insurance Program: (1) A list of the categories of vulnerable children who should be the targets of public health initiatives, including, but not limited to, immigrant children, homeless children, and other children that face health disparities. (2) Recommendations on innovative methods available under the federal program for addressing health needs and barriers to care for the identified groups of vulnerable children. The board shall report as many recommendations as possible that are available under the federal program and the expected impact of each recommendation. (3) Recommendations on innovative methods available under the federal program for developing in urban areas initiatives similar to the rural demonstration projects. The board shall report as many recommendations as possible that are available under the federal program and the expected impact of each recommendation. (b) The board shall seek input, at regularly scheduled meetings of the board, from the Healthy Families Advisory Panel and stakeholder organizations, including, but not limited to, organizations that represent immigrant and homeless populations, other communities that experience health disparities, and traditional providers of care to low-income populations. (c) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is obtained.