Healthy Families Update August 13, 2009

On August 13, the First 5 California Commission voted to commit $81.4 million to support the Healthy Families Program. Per the First 5 mandate, these funds will be used to support premiums and other costs for children from birth to age five. At the same time, MRMIB decided to begin the process of disenrolling children from Healthy Families in order to address the Program's continued budget shortfall.

As MRMIB reported on its website today, based on the State Budget signed into law on July 28th, the HFP shortfall is $194 million in state General Funds (GF) and $582 million in total funds for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Even with the $81.4 million commitment from First 5, there is still a shortfall of $112.6 million in state funding ($337.8 million total funds) for the fiscal year.

As a result, at today’s meeting, the Board agreed that, in addition to limiting new enrollment, it is necessary to disenroll children to ensure that expenditures do not exceed the funding available for the program. Without additional funding for the Program, disenrollment from HFP will begin with children who have September anniversary dates in the program. The effective date for disenrollment of these children will be October 1, 2009.

There are two important new developments in the disenrollment plan:

1. Children who are disenrolled from HFP will be placed on the waiting list ahead of new applicants so that those who are still eligible could enroll first if sufficient funding became available to allow new enrollment into the program. Families whose children are going to be disenrolled will receive at least 30 days written notice.
2. Those children who are enrolled in both HFP and CCS and whose families have incomes over $40,000/year (i.e. those children who are deemed financially eligible for CCS because they are enrolled in Healthy Families) will not be disenrolled from HFP. Without this exemption, if these children lose their Healthy Families coverage, they also lose their CCS coverage.

The Board also directed its staff to continue analyzing cost-cutting ideas and working with the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS), the Legislature, the state First Five Commission, local First Five Commissions, foundations and other interested parties to obtain additional funding to supplement the appropriation for the Program. If additional funding is obtained, the Board’s Executive Director has the authority to make a finding of sufficient funding and to suspend the disenrollment process.