Latino children hurt by California budget cuts

Latino children hurt by California's budget cuts
The Latino Journal E-News, August 17, 2009

In an effort to stave off a $24.3 billion dollar deficit, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has negotiated with democratic legislative leaders to cut funding for a program called Healthy Families. It is California's version of the national Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers more than 900,000 California children. The $200 million cut will result in the state also losing federal matching funds, an amount estimated to be around $700 million per year. More importantly, tens of thousands of Latino children will be cut or not admitted for healthcare.

In his statement regarding the budget cut, Governor Schwarzenegger said "All of those are very, very tough decisions. That's why I call them ugly, not bad, but ugly. Those are very ugly cuts."

Healthy Families is a program designed to provide healthcare to children from households with incomes that do not exceed 250% of the federal poverty level. Through Healthy Families, healthcare is provided to children through mostly rural clinics that also serve large Latino populations. But, with their budgets cut, many of these clinics may need to close and the number of children that can be helped being capped. There are over 60,000 children on the waiting list with no hope of being covered.

"Our Healthy Families Program will be short $552.4 million (including federal matching funds)," said Janette Lopez from the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which administers the Healthy Families program.

The cuts have pushed the state board to find other money, cut other costs, or reduce more than half a million children from the statewide program. Some program cuts may include services like vision, biofeedback, acupuncture and chiropractic. In addition, the board is considering raising co-pays, some of which are currently zero.

Rural California is not only home to many farm workers, but also covers regions with years of agricultural activity resulting in of water and air-borne pollutants. The environmental issues are so prominent in these regions that scientists and groups like the American Lung Association have been pushing to evaluate the health risks encountered by children exposed to agricultural chemicals. But, without the Healthy Families programs, it will be difficult to study the environmental human impacts on children.

For more information about Healthy Families, visit their website at www.healthyfamilies.ca.gov.