The Children's Health Initiative

In 2001, Santa Clara County became the first county in the nation to commit to providing health coverage to its estimated 71,000 uninsured children. Through a groundbreaking comprehensive health insurance package and aggressive outreach program called the Children's Health Initiative, more than 90,000 of those uninsured children have applied for coverage since the program's inception. And the rate of applications remains steady, showing the great need for children's health insurance in the State's fourth largest county.

The Children's Health Initiative (CHI) reaches out to uninsured children through three health plans: Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and Healthy Kids, the last of which insures children whose families earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level and are not eligible for coverage under Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. Healthy Kids is an essential component of helping reach the goal of making health insurance accessible to every child in the County. (Learn more on our Healthy Kids program page).

How is Healthy Kids Funded?

A coalition of community groups, including Working Partnerships USA, People Acting in Community Together (PACT), Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System, and Santa Clara Family Health Plan worked with both Santa Clara County and the City of San Jose to give a portion of tobacco settlement money to fund the Healthy Kids program. Other sources of funding for Healthy Kids include the FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, and the David and Lucile Salter Packard Foundation. Additional funding is being sought from other foundations, corporations and individuals.

Ensuring Success

There are many elements that contribute to the success of the Children's Health Initiative, including deployment into the community of trained, multi-lingual application specialists, an extensive school outreach system, and the Premium Assistance Fund.

For information on how you can help, or to make a donation to Healthy Kids, please call 408-874-1999.

Additional Research and Information

Further information can be found in the following briefs, presented in pdf form:

• Expanding Coverage for Children: The Santa Clara County Children's Health Initiative
• Santa Clara Healthy Kids Program Reduces Gaps in Children's Access to Medical and Dental Care
• Santa Clara County Children's Health Initiative Outreach and Enrollment Efforts Are Effective and Helpful to Parents
• Santa Clara County Children's Health Initiative Improves Children's Health