[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING THE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INITIATIVE OF NAPA COUNTY

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                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 2, 2007

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
Children's Health Initiative of Napa County for the excellent work it 
has done to expand health insurance coverage to all of Napa County's 
children. By trying to ensure that every child in Napa County has some 
form of health insurance, the Children's Health Initiative is working 
to improve the quality of life for all children and families in Napa 
County.
  The Children's Health Initiative was founded in 2005 with the goal of 
providing insurance coverage for every child in Napa County, either 
directly or by working with families to obtain coverage through other 
programs they might qualify for. Often families qualify for health 
insurance but are intimidated by the paperwork or relatively minor 
costs associated with many insurance programs. A twin approach of 
helping families make those enrollments where qualified while providing 
a comprehensive health insurance program to those who do not has been 
the foundation of this program's success.
  Since the start of programmatic work in December 2005, Children's 
Health Initiative has gained health insurance for 2,100 children in 
Napa County. Approximately 30 percent of these were through the 
initiative's own Healthy Kids insurance, while the remainder have 
successfully enrolled in the partnership programs MediCal, Healthy 
Families, and Kaiser Permanente's Child Health Plan. The program has 
done very well, reaching into communities that have traditionally 
lacked information about health care resources. Around 95 percent of 
the children served by the initiative's own Healthy Kids insurance 
program are Spanish speaking by birth, and many live in households with 
incomes not far above the federal poverty line.
  It is extraordinarily important that children in any community be 
given access to a comprehensive health care. Not only is it good for 
the individual child's health and development, but it also has numerous 
positive effects throughout the community. By ensuring regular access 
to preventative care and examinations, as well as immunizations, 
children are healthier and pose less risk of transmitting diseases to 
others, and require fewer expensive visits to the emergency room. 
Parents benefit as well, as they take fewer sick days and so are more 
stable in their jobs.
  Madam Speaker, it is appropriate at this time that we thank the 
Children's Health Initiative of Napa County for the remarkable strides 
this program has taken in just 2 years. Only through the hard work and 
generous contributions of countless members of our community has this 
program gotten such a strong start, and I know that we will see much 
more progress in the years to come.

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