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GUESTS: Gina Park, a High School student who has been on a waiting list for health insurance, Thomas Tran, Public Relations Specialist for LA Care, a community health plan that serves nearly 800,000 Los Angeles County residents through Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and Healthy Kids. L.A.

800,000 LA County kids are in danger of losing health care coverage, if President Bush vetoes the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007. The CHAMP act has passed the House and is expected to be passed by the Senate. But Bush has promised to veto. Federal cuts will have a drastic effect on those children whose health care is currently covered by what are called “S-CHIP” programs or State Children’s Health Insurance Programs. Additionally, if the federal programs are under funded, locally funded programs like Healthy Kids L.A. will be forced to pick up the slack, squeezing out both documented and undocumented children that desperately need medical and dental care. Until just this month Healthy Kids LA was only able to extend coverage for children up to 5 years of age. Children over the age of 5 have been on waiting lists for as long as 3 or 4 years. At current local funding levels Healthy Kids L.A. can guarantee coverage only through January 2008 for those aged 5 and older.

For more information visit, L.A. Care and
Children’s Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles or call 1-888-4-LACARE