1. Kids Hurt by High Health Costs Health care costs that exceed family budgets lead parents to put off treatment for their children, juggle bills against medicine, feed their youngsters leftover antibiotics, and take other dangerous risks, according to a new North Carolina study sponsored by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The article is on the Cover the Uninsured Week's web site. 2. Insuring the Nation's Children: U.S. Lawmakers Struggle to Solve Health Care Dilemma More than 7 million U.S. children had no health insurance in 2002 and 8 out of 10 of these kids live in working families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. by Fran Kritz, MSNBC.com, 14 February 2003 Shawn Hegdal, a Montana mother of four, has a feel for what it's like to be caught in the middle of a dilemma--the kind of dilemma that's becoming an everyday problem for millions of Americans who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance for their families. Hegdal, whose husband is a self-employed logger who recently dropped his insurance because the cost was too high, applied for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers children trapped in the gap between too much and not enough. But Hegdal found that Montana's CHIP coffers had dried up and that she'd need to apply at a later date. "I'm trying not to be too discouraged," says Hegdal, who hopes to reapply again soon. "The CHIP program is really our only choice for coverage. To get private insurance for all of us would cost $600 to $700, but then we'd have trouble making our rent," says Hegdal. OVER 7 MILLION KIDS UNINSURED "If you've always had health coverage," says Hegdal, "it might be hard to understand just how much living without it affects your daily life. Our children are now ages 8, 10, 16 and 23. Every time one of the kids feels sick, we have to try to figure out whether he's sick enough to take to the doctor. Going to the doctor costs so much, we have to be sure we're sick enough to warrant going." Hegdal is hardly alone. Despite the introduction of the CHIP program in 1997, more than 7 million children had no health insurance in 2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And 8 out of 10 uninsured children live in working families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over the next few months, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are expected to introduce at least four bills that would add, expand or just try to retain current levels of government-funded health insurance for children whose families can't afford to buy coverage on their own. But health advocates, armed with numbers that show a faltering economy, state budget deficits and no extra funding on Capitol Hill, are pessimistic that much of the legislation will go beyond the bill introduction stage. "Unless the economy turns around, or unless there is more money from the federal government to the states, I think we'll go backwards [in terms of children's health insurance]" says Bill Vaughn, senior counsel at Families USA, a health care advocacy group. 3. Follow-Up to Our October 2002 State Coalition Meeting Read the article on Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems and community health centers that serve Hawaiians. In "Brightness of Day", writer Sally-Jo Keala-o-Anuenue Bowman looks at a coalition of health agencies that's helping to improve the health of Native Hawaiians. 4. 100% Campaign Report The 100% Campaign released a report "Children Falling Through the Health Insurance Cracks: Early Observations and Promising Strategies for Keeping Children Covered by Medi-Cal and Health Families." It examines California's health insurance programs for children--Medi-Cal and Healthy Families--and their ability to keep children covered. The report provides observations on where in the process children are most at risk of losing their insurance and offers common sense strategies for keeping them insured. The Campaign identified five key cracks in health insurance programs' processes where eligible children lose coverage. The report also noted the vital role that community partners--counties, community groups, and health plans--play in keeping children covered. A summary of the report and PDF download are available on the 100% Campaign web site. 5. Reminder About New Income Limits Med-QUEST released it's 2003 income limits that are retroactive to 1 January. They can be found on our Children's Health Insurance Income Guidelines web page.