The Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously adopted the Children’s Health Initiative, an effort to increase the number of children with health insurance and health care in underserved communities throughout King County.

“The first step to protecting the lives of our young people is to ensure they have access to the medical and dental care they need,” said Council Chair Larry Gossett, prime sponsor of the legislation. “Healthy children grow up to be healthy adults. Children who lack health care face a future of health disparities that will impact the rest of their lives. The programs are out there. This initiative seeks to bridge the gap between communities and the providers that want to help.”

“Our children may be the first generation ever to have shorter life expectancies than their parents, due to obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, a co-sponsor and chair of the King County Board of Health. “Linking children to health care and providing them with access to preventative doctor and dentist visits is an important step we can take to reverse this troubling trend in our community’s worsening health.”

As part of the 2007 King County Budget, the Council provided start-up funds for the Children’s Health Initiative, a program to link children with existing state and federal health insurance for which they may qualify, while developing a long-term strategy for how King County can best improve the health of children within limited resources. The motion adopted today by the Council approves the outreach strategies developed as part of the Initiative. Legislation adopted by the State Legislature during their recently completed session set a goal of providing health care for all children up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level starting this July. The Initiative will focus on enrolling the approximately 9,000 eligible children in King County in health insurance programs to which they are entitled.

The goal of the Initiative is to remove the barriers children face in receiving consistent access to health care services by:

• Aggressively locating and enrolling children in public health insurance programs for which they are eligible, to ensure they get comprehensive preventive-focused care;
• Advocating for affordable insurance options for all children;
• Linking families and children to a consistent source of medical and dental care;
• Delivering messages in many languages about the value of early prevention and health insurance;
• Using trusted messengers from the community to deliver these messages; and
• Encouraging quality integrated service delivery within clinics by utilizing case managers.
• Implementing innovative pilot projects, funded by private donors.

“All kids need access to quality health care,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, co-sponsor of the legislation. “The Children’s Health Care Initiative is an investment in our children by providing access to quality, prevention-focused health care. The initiative is a sustainable approach, leveraging state programs and private sector donations to improve children's health. A critical part of the initiative is outreach to ensure families are taking advantage of the programs available to them and have access to health information. This is an exciting step to provide more children with a better foundation for becoming healthy, productive adults.”

The Children’s Health Initiative will involve four teams each comprised of community health workers, health educators, application workers, and care coordinators at clinics. Those teams will work in four targeted areas with the most uninsured or low-income populations: East King County; Seattle, White Center and North King County; South King County from Des Moines to Renton; and South King County from Federal Way to Kent and Auburn. The teams will work with health care providers, community programs and human service agencies to improve health outcomes through both education and improved access to health services. The Initiative will involve both public and private agencies in the outreach and would leverage county funds to bring in additional resources.

“This is the right time and the right program to help protect the 15,000 children in King County who do not have medical or dental coverage,” said co-sponsor Councilmember Dow Constantine. “This initiative enables families to connect with existing efforts aimed at protecting and improving their children’s health.”

“County residents consistently identified access to health care for all as a top priority in our budget workshops this year,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, another co-sponsor. “The Children’s Health Initiative takes another step forward to achieving this priority by providing the community outreach needed to bring children into the health care system to prevent illnesses before they become severe or life-threatening. I applaud the Executive for his leadership on this issue.”

“This holistic approach to protecting our kids is the culmination of a collaborative effort that crosses boundaries and jurisdictions,” said Council Chair Gossett. “I want to thank County Executive Sims and Public Health—Seattle & King County, as well Group Health Cooperative, Washington Dental Service, and the other human service agencies and health providers for their vision and work on this Initiative. This is a plan that can literally save lives.”

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system.
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