Needs Improvement: California Gets Low Marks for Children’s Health Insurance

The State Scorecard on Child Health System Performance, 2011 evaluated all 50 states and how well they performed on 20 key indicators of children's health. The indicators were divided into three primary categories: Access and affordability; prevention and treatment and potential to lead healthy lives. California ranked among the bottom five states on four key indicators, and in the bottom quartile on eight of the 20 indicators.

California's low ranking in the access and affordability category shows a relatively low percentage of children 0 to 18 with health insurance, and an even lower percentage of parents ages 19 to 64 who are insured. The report indicates that this may be in part due to the high percentage of low-income parents who work in jobs that don't traditionally provide health insurance, such as service, retail and agriculture. According to the study's researchers, the findings reveal opportunities for federal, state, and community agencies to improve health system performance for children of all ages and their families.

First 5 LA renewed its commitment to provide up to $9 million for the Healthy Kids insurance program in May. Healthy Kids was created to provide access to low- or no-cost health insurance for children 0 to 5 who live in Los Angeles County and are not eligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, two state-sponsored health insurance services. Nearly 3,000 L.A. County children 5 and under are currently covered by Healthy Kids.

Key indicators for which California scored the lowest were oral health for children 1 to 17 years, risk for developmental or behavioral delays among children 4 months to 5 years and percentage of children 10 months to 5 years who received standardized developmental screenings during a medical visit.

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