NEWS FROM:
Santa Clara
Family Health Foundation

SANTA CLARA FAMILY HEALTH FOUNDATION RECEIVES $1.1 MILLION TO SUPPORT HEALTHY KIDS HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM. GIFTS WILL ALLOW PROGRAM TO ADD ENROLLMENT

CAMPBELL, CA – February 10, 2004 -- Santa Clara Family Health Foundation (SCFHF) has received a $900,000 grant from California HealthCare Foundation for the fiscal year, July 2004 through June 2005 and a gift of $202,600 over two years from Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital. These gifts support the Healthy Kids health insurance program, which relies completely on local funding to provide health care for children in Santa Clara County who otherwise would not be able to receive it. This funding will allow the program to enroll additional members, ages 6 through 18.

Healthy Kids is administered by Santa Clara Family Health Plan and provides medical, dental, vision and mental health insurance for 13,000 children, ages 0 to 18 in Santa Clara County . Ongoing funding from FIRST 5 of Santa Clara County has allowed Healthy Kids to enroll all eligible children ages 0 through 5 who have applied. Enrollment for children ages 6 through 18, however, has had to be capped since March 2003 at 10,000 children due to limited funding for this age group. For almost one year, children 6 through 18 years old have been enrolled only as replacement spots have become available. Each month more than 400 children in this age group apply for Healthy Kids coverage but only about 225 can be enrolled on a replacement basis. As a result, the overall waiting list for 6 through 18 year-olds has grown at the rate of more than 150 children per month, and currently stands at approximately 800.Leona Butler, Santa Clara Family Health Plan Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are most grateful to the California HealthCare Foundation and Lucile Packard Hospital for this additional funding. Their generous support allows us to provide health, dental and vision services for many children in the County who, otherwise, would not have had health care. With these funds we can ensure that the Healthy Kids Program will continue to provide Santa Clara's children with essential preventative services in the most medically efficient and cost effective manner.” The Healthy Kids program is designed to cover children of low and mid-income families in Santa Clara County who do not qualify for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. Healthy Kids is funded by FIRST 5 Santa Clara, Santa Clara County and City of San Jose tobacco settlement funds, as well as private funding from a number of other donors, including California HealthCare Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The California Endowment, The Health Trust, The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and El Camino Hospital.

About Santa Clara Family Health Foundation

Santa Clara Family Health Plan established Santa Clara Family Health Foundation in May 2000. The Foundation was formed to distribute excess revenues realized by the Health Plan to community health programs, and to be a vehicle for seeking and receiving grant funds to support health services research and innovative health care programs for Santa Clara County residents. For more information visit www.HealthyKidsFund.org

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