1. Kids Health Insurance Week: Heading Down the Home Stretch Thanks to the exceptional work done by Lynne Waters Communications and Lychee Productions and the energetic determination of our partner organizations, our message to working parents about free and low-cost health insurance is EVERYWHERE! Advertisements and live radio interviews continue this week and there are remaining events in Waimanalo and Kauai. For more information, logon to our Kids Health Insurance Week web page. Stay tuned for wrap-up data on this successful adventure. 2. State Coalition Meeting Features Pacific Islanders Panel Please join us on Wednesday, August 15 for this special presentation. Details are on our web site's August calendar. 3. Santa Clara County Plans to Cover All Uninsured Children A new report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured examines Santa Clara County in California in its effort to provide health insurance coverage (Children's Health Initiative or CHI) to all children living in the county. As one of the first localities to attempt such an initiative, its experiences can highlight important lessons and potential best practices for policymakers at the county, state, and national level considering coverage expansions for children. "First Glance at the Children's Health Initiative in Santa Clara County, California" (Document 2260) reports that preliminary enrollment results from the first months in operation are encouraging. More than two-thirds (71%) of enrolled children are between ages 6 and 18, reflecting CHI's early efforts to target schools. In the first month, CHI received more than 2,000 inquiries to its toll free information number. Reflecting the demographics of the target population, more than half of the callers requested information in Spanish and a sizeable portion spoke Vietnamese. 4. Many States Offering New Benefits to Illegal Immigrants Finding that "unequal treatment poses too great a threat to public order and safety," several states and cities have begun expanding benefits such as health care to undocumented immigrants, the Washington Post reports. With census figures putting the number of undocumented immigrants at six to nine million, communities are "grappling" with how to treat this population, proposing benefits that "would have been unthinkable" just a few years ago, according to the Post. Federal law bans undocumented immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits, but states may cover this population with their own funds. In Washington, D.C., a new health plan offering free health services to low-income patients includes undocumented immigrants. In Maryland and Virginia, "many local governments" offer health care services to low-income patients without checking documentation, the Post reports. According to Ivan Walks, Washington, D.C.'s chief health officer, providing preventive care for undocumented immigrants "is much more cost-effective," because it reduces use of emergency rooms, where hospitals are obliged to treat undocumented patients and absorb the cost (Sheridan, Washington Post, 08/01/01). 5. Section 1115 Waivers and Their Importance to Medicaid and CHIP Section 1115 of the Social Security Act has become a path to restructure the Medicaid program by allowing the executive branch of the federal government to waive statutory and regulatory rules. Today, 20% of total federal Medicaid spending is through Section 1115 waiver programs. With recent increased interest in using Section 1115 waivers as a method for Medicaid and CHIP reforms, the new Kaiser Commission publication, "Section 1115 Waivers in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program: An Overview" (Publication 4001) provides a description of the law, its history, and implications for use in Medicaid and CHIP.