1. Hawaii Covering Kids in the News "The Quest for Insurance" by Helen Altonn in The Honolulu Star-Bulletin The Honolulu Advertiser Windward People featured an article titled "Child health effort hits BYUH Campus" by Mark Doyle on 12 October 2005. It discussed the Kahuku Local Project's pregnant women media outreach campaign and health insurance as an important link for prenatal care. 2. More Children and Youth Enrolled in QUEST and Medicaid Additional outstationed eligibility workers in communities throughout the state, passive renewals for cases with children, and the children and pregnant women application are helping families whose children are eligible for Hawaii's public health insurance programs! Since these activities were initiated beginning December 2003, there have been 16,885 more kids enrolled in QUEST and Medicaid. Monthly enrollments by Med-QUEST program are available on our data web page. 3. California Initiative Expands Health Care for Kids A new report from Mathematica examines the Santa Clara County Healthy Kids Program, an ambitious effort to close gaps in health insurance for children. Researchers identified many significant improvements in medical, dental, and vision care among children who participated in Healthy Kids. It is in PDF format at The Santa Clara Healthy Kids Program: Impacts on Children's Medical, Dental, and Vision Care. 4. Children Lose Public Health Insurance in Missouri Missouri state officials said 12,388 families failed to pay new premiums under CHIP by September 30 resulting in loss of health insurance for about 21,500 children. The state legislature last spring approved premiums for families with annual incomes 150% of the poverty level and higher. Previously, families participating in the program paid no premiums and only some contributed co-payments. State officials sent customers a letter on September 1 detailing the changes and then followed up with a reminder notice on September 15. The state collected $453,062 in premiums from 12,130 families. Children whose families did not pay the premiums can regain public health insurance if their parents pay by November 30. After that, the families will need to reapply. The premiums were set on a sliding scale. Families are divided into three income tiers, with premiums set at 1 percent, 3 percent and 5 percent of income. Opponents said any change that results in children losing health insurance is shortsighted. They noted the federal government pays 72 percent of the program's costs. "Missouri was such a leader" in children's insurance, said Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis. She said uninsured children still need health care so the cuts are "going to come back and bite us." Click here for the story: 21,500 children lose state health insurance. 5. Illinois Proposes “First-in-Nation” Health Plan for All Kids Governor Blagojevich unveiled his All Kids program which sets monthly premiums and co-payments based on family income. A family of four earning $40,000, for example, would pay a $40 monthly premium per child and a $10 co-pay for doctor visits. Voices for Illinois Children says the plan could provide health insurance to all 253,000 Illinois children who are currently uninsured because their parents make too much for public insurance, but too little to afford private premiums. More details are at Health Care for All Kids.