The King County Council’s Budget Leadership Team and the Chair of the King County Board of Health today announced start-up funding for a pilot program to link children with existing state and federal health insurance for which they may qualify. Work continues on developing a comprehensive plan for how King County can best improve the health of children within limited public resources.

“Linking uninsured children with health coverage is consistent with the County’s ‘Priorities for People’ that serve as our yardstick for budgeting,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, Chair of the Annual Budget Committee. “Now we need to study whether other investments would more effectively create improvements in children’s health outcomes. We need to determine whether there is capacity in the health care system that children can access once they are insured. And we need to know whether this outreach effort will succeed in overcoming the barriers people face in enrolling in existing programs.”

“Half of the uninsured children in King County are eligible for state or federal health insurance,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, Chair of the King County Board of Health. “This initiative will help us identify those children and help them enroll. Paramount to the effort is our continued work with the state to find long-term solutions for the ever-growing uninsured population.”

The 2007 Budget set for adoption on Monday provides $250,000 for two temporary employees and other costs to develop an access and outreach pilot project to enroll eligible children in state and federal health insurance programs.

The budget includes another $750,000 in an earmarked reserve account pending Council approval of a comprehensive plan for what the County can do to best improve the health of children.

In an effort to provide a broader context for improving children’s health, the Public Health Operational Master Plan (PHOMP) spearheaded by the Council will provide direction for King County on how to achieve better health outcomes for children. The budget calls for Public Health–Seattle & King County, working through the PHOMP Steering Committee, to submit a report to the Council by May 31. This report will identify the most significant health problems facing children, the causes of those problems, and how the County can have the greatest impact on improving children’s health.

“King County needs to take decisive action to ensure that our children are healthy, safe and ready to thrive,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, chair of the Capital Budget Panel. “Because our public health system is facing a fiscal crisis, it imperative that we search for options that will save taxpayers’ money over time.”

"We have approved funds to develop a program that will focus on outcomes," said Councilmember Jane Hague, Chair of the Operating Budget Panel. "That's why our budget invests $4 million in children and family programs throughout King County."

“We need to be smart with our dollars and make sure we are buying the best outcomes, and those answers will come through the Public Health Operational Master Plan,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, vice-chair of the Annual Budget Committee.

The budget requires the County Executive to send the Council evaluation criteria to measure and track the outcomes of this pilot project, including the impact of the project on children’s health and the success of the project, by January 15, 2007.

Until 1999, Washington State funded public health through the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET). However, passage of Initiative 695 repealed the MVET, cutting state funding for public health that has never been fully restored.

The final King County Budget is scheduled for adoption on Monday, Nov. 20.