United Ways of California Applaud the Signing of
AB 1422 Which Prevents 1 Million California Children from Losing Access
to Health Coverage
October 2009
Los Angeles, CA – Peter Manzo, President & CEO of United Ways of
California, today issued the following statement in response to Governor
Schwarzenegger’s signing of AB 1422, a bipartisan bill passed through
the Legislature on September 3, 2009, aimed at restoring nearly $100
million previously cut from the Healthy Families Program, California’s
low- and no-cost health insurance program for children:
“With the Governor’s signature of AB 1422 today, nearly 1 million
California children will now maintain access to their health coverage.
The move couldn’t come at a more critical time, as 70,000 children had
been denied access to Healthy Families and health coverage since July
and hundreds of thousands more had been expected to lose access to
coverage this year.
“This was truly a bi-partisan effort that is a win-win for California
kids and taxpayers. The bill not only protects the health of 1 million
children, but does so without raising any costs on healthcare consumers.
Instead, it leverages federal funds to provide health care to children
and brings more federal dollars back home to our state where there are
desperately needed.
“AB 1422 will help protect children and the entire population from the
H1N1 virus, which is expected to hit children especially hard this fall
when they return to school.
“We commend the Legislature and Governor for showing leadership on this
issue and protecting kids in our state. We hope our state leaders will
continue to make kids a priority next year as United Ways of California
and others throughout the state work to ensure that no California child
goes without health coverage.” |
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