Improving coverage and access for immigrant Latino children: the Los Angeles healthy kids program

A large number of California counties have recently taken bold steps to extend health insurance to all poor and near-poor children through county-based Children's Health Initiatives. One initiative, the Los Angeles Healthy Kids program, extends coverage to uninsured children in families with incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty level who are ineligible for Medi-Cal (California Medicaid) and Healthy Families (its State Children's Health Insurance Program). A four-year evaluation of Healthy Kids finds that the program has improved access for more than 40,000, most of whom are immigrant Latino children, who have almost no access to employer coverage. However, sustaining this effective program has proved to be challenging.