AAP-CA Opposes State Budget Cuts to Children’s Health Care!

May 21^st, 2009
TO: Conference Committee Members
FROM: The American Academy of Pediatrics, California
RE: Children’s Health Care: DO NOT eliminate the Healthy Families Program, or make other draconian cuts to the children’s health care safety net. Preserving these programs will help solve California’s fiscal crisis!

The American Academy of Pediatrics, California (AAP-CA), representing over 5,000 pediatrician members of the four AAP-CA regional chapters statewide, understands that California is in a fiscal crisis. We appreciate the very difficult public service you are engaged in, and as leaders who must find a solution.

We urge you to maintain the Healthy Families Program that serves over 1 million of our most vulnerable children, and preserve the safety net for children’s health as part of any budget solution. State monies will be saved if children’s access to health care is a priority, prevention is emphasized, and federal dollars are not left on the table.

Children are California’s future. We would not let 7% of our state’s children go without education, because it would mean they would be at a much higher risk for poor outcomes in life. Without education these children would also likely draw down more state resources in their adult lives, as their chance of productive employment and staying out of the criminal justice system falls. Yet we let 7% of California children go without health insurance, even though evidence shows it puts children at risk for these same poor outcomes and reliance on the state. It is a penny-wise pound-foolish approach. Worse yet, the budget proposals before you from the Governor would exacerbate the problem, forcing many more children on to the rolls of the uninsured, and decimating important preventive programs that save the state significant dollars. Children may get essential health care one way or the other, but whether that occurs in a medical home at a low expense or in the emergency room at a high expense rests on many of the decisions you will be making in this difficult budget year.

While there are many elements of the budget that potentially effect children’s health and well being in California, the following are five points that AAP-CA considers critical to bring to your attention. Specifically, we urge you NOT to enact the following proposed cuts, both because of the compassion that you have for these children and their families, but also because retaining these programs is fiscally the right thing to do for the taxpayer and the state:

1. SAY NO to the elimination of the Successful Healthy Families Program and to eligibility and associated Healthy Family Program Cuts
   The Governor has proposed to ”save“ $54.5 million by rolling back eligibility for the Healthy Families program to 200% of poverty, which would drop roughly 225,000 children from coverage. Worse yet, wholesale elimination of the Healthy Families Program has been included in his new list of potential post-election cuts. Yet this is the worst possible time to propose a cut to the Healthy Families Program.  According to an April 2009 UC Berkeley Labor Center study, as many as 300,000 kids in California have lost employer-based coverage this past year, underscoring more than ever the importance of these public programs.  Furthermore, Healthy Families enrollment is at an all time high, over a million children in total, demonstrating families’ need for affordable health care coverage options for their children. Moreover, this action would result in California losing significant dollars available under the 2 to 1 federal match for the health carey Family Program. Dismantling a successful, cost-effective program that saves lives and reduces overall state costs through an emphasis on prevention and a drawdown of federal dollars would be nothing short of reprehensible.
2. SAY NO to the proposal to seek a Federal Waiver that cuts $750 million from Medi-Cal
   Children comprise 46% of all Medi-Cal enrollees. Cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates would further reduce already eroding access to care for our most vulnerable children. Moreover, maintaining current Medi-Cal eligibility and key program provisions are essential for receiving federal stimulus dollars.
3. SAY NO to the proposal to Cut $2.7 million in Outreach to Support Children’s Enrollment in Publicly funded Health Care Programs
   Many of California’s most at risk and vulnerable children are eligible for existing publicly funded health care programs, but are not enrolled. Getting them access through these programs will decrease emergency room costs and costs of care for conditions that are preventable.
4. SAY NO to cuts to Regional Centers and Changes in Eligibility
   Early identification of developmental delay and conditions such as autism can make all the difference in outcomes for that child, as well as in long-term expense to the state for special education and related services.
5. SAY NO to the elimination of funding for Poison Control Centers
   Poison Control centers perform an essential public health service, providing community members with the rapid response they need to save lives and prevent costly trips to the emergency room. The poison control program saves $70 mllion in health care costs and prevents 164,000 annual ER visits, which is well worth the estimated $5.9 milion to run the program.

The AAP-CA has pediatric experts in all of the above areas who work in partnership with these programs and stand ready to answer any questions you might have. For more information, please contact our CEO Kris Calvin at aapkris@mac.com or call 510-559-8383.

Please do the right thing for kids and the right thing for California. Do not cut the children’s health care safety net!

Respectfully submitted,
Kris Calvin
AAP-CA CEO