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Healthy Kids Sonoma County

A Good Idea

Description

Healthy Kids Sonoma County is a locally developed program that provides immediate access to health care and health insurance for children of low-income families. Over 10,000 children in Sonoma County are uninsured. Children without access to preventive health services and a regular source of health care suffer disproportionately from health ailments because preventable illnesses and conditions become chronic problems.

Healthy Kids builds upon state sponsored programs to provide comprehensive health insurance coverage to low-income families who cannot afford private health coverage. Healthy Kids differs from Medi-Cal because it raises the income eligibility to 300% of the federal poverty limit and does not consider immigration status, therefore, children who are not eligible for Medi-Cal can receive care and insurance through this program. Children who meet the income requirement and who are younger than 19 years old and residents of Sonoma county are eligible for Healthy Kids.

Healthy Kids has a network of both public and private medical providers and is supported by a professional staff that manages the Healthy Kids Plan. The program begins with countywide outreach efforts that identify uninsured children, enrolls those eligible for Medi-Cal in Medi-Cal and enrolls the other children in the local, Healthy Kids Sonoma County program. These families are connected to services through a centralized information and referral line.

Goal / Mission

Healthy Kids plans to enroll all uninsured children who are not eligible for Medi-Cal and who are residents of Sonoma County in the health care and insurance program.

Results / Accomplishments

Since 2004, Healthy Kids has helped more than 25,000 children access comprehensive health insurance coverage, which includes medical, vision, dental and mental health services.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Redwood Community Health Coalition
Primary Contact
To find health care coverage for your child:
800-427-8982

To make a donation:
707-792-7900 x202
Topics
Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Health / Children's Health
Organization(s)
Redwood Community Health Coalition
Date of implementation
2004
Location
Sonoma
For more details
Target Audience
Children, Families
Additional Audience
low-income families