The editorial in the Sacramento Bee on Saturday hit the nail on the head regarding the governor’s decision to close the Healthy Families program. Healthy Families provides subsidized health insurance to approximately 900,000 children across the state of California. The governor estimates approximately $13 million in savings the first year to the state and $73 million thereafter by having local counties transition the children into the Medi-Cal program.

There are many problems with the idea. First, there will be additional costs to our county to manage the transition of these children, potentially far outweighing the savings to the state. Second, Medi-Cal has a very limited provider network and will significantly limit access to care to these children. Third, insurance companies provide $183 million in taxes to support the Healthy Families program, which is in jeopardy if the program is closed.

Finally, in 18 months when the Affordable Care Act is implemented, these children and their parents will be eligible for the Exchange, which means they potentially will need to be transitioned to another insurance program with another provider network and enrollment process.

While these are very difficult times, the decisions we make to save money need to be well thought-out. Please join me in asking our legislative representatives, Sen. Lois Wolk at [email protected] and Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada at [email protected], to vote no on the trailer bill that includes this proposal. The vote is proposed to be held Tuesday.

Mark Diel

Davis

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