healthy families (schip) to cut 900,000 california children

Haven't covered much of the California economic disaster here, but more bad news today (h/t Calitics): the Sacramento Bee estimates that the Gubernator's cuts to Healthy Families, California's SCHIP program, will result in up to $194 million in cuts; Calitics estimates this will mean 900,000 children losing their health care coverage. There is already a waiting list of 22,000 California children for Healthy Families, since enrollment was frozen earlier this month as initial budget cuts hit the program.

Children will lose their Healthy Families coverage according to their date of enrollment, without consideration of how needy they are.

SCHIP has arguably been the most successful public insurance program since the advent of Medicare, and the expansion of SCHIP earlier this year was one of the Obama Administration's earliest and most significant victories. It's a testament to the broken system that California is currently operating under that those services most needed at a time when more than a tenth of the state is unemployed and more and more people lose their health insurance every day that even the politically perfect home run of insuring children can't hold up against Republican obstructionism and an undemocratic (small "d") budget and revenue system.

A small glimmer of hope that the First 5 program may step in and help reduce some of the cuts, having given Healthy Families almost $17 million last year and helping to insure $65,000 children. Unfortunately, the program can only cover infants to 5-year-olds, by law.