Thank you for the opportunity to offer comments on the topic of local match reduction for the Healthy Kids Child Health Insurance Program. I am Patricia Chivers, Associate for Social Concerns for the Florida Catholic Conference.  I speak on behalf of Catholic Charities agencies who serve some of the neediest children and families in Florida.

   First, I thank Governor Bush and our state legislators for increasing the state budget to provide health insurance coverage for 102,000 additional children in Florida this year. This is a tremendous increase and clearly shows the commitment of our leaders to protect and provide health care for Florida's children. When the Florida Legislature directed Healthy Kids' Board of Directors to submit a multi-year proposal for the reduction of the local match, our hope was renewed for the children who are in counties where the local match cannot be raised and who remain uninsured.

   According to a recent study, Assessing the New Federalism, conducted by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., Florida is among the three states with the highest rates of uninsured children, in part due to family income and the fact that private coverage (either employer-sponsored or privately purchased) was below the national average of 69 percent. This calls for us, the people of Florida, to take the responsibility to find ways to provide at least minimum standards of health care for our children whose families are unable to do so. We are all God's children and members of one human family, called to exercise a clear priority for the "least among us."

   The local match requirement has created barriers to health care which cause more uninsured children to be placed on a waiting list and to go without basic health care. Five hundred children in each county that does not raise the local match are eligible for coverage. But after the five hundredth child is qualified, enrollment is closed and the county must generate up to 20 percent of the cost for additional enrollees. The high cost of health care and the high number of children living in poverty in Florida are factors which must be considered in planning for the 2001-2002 state budget. State funds are needed to replace the local match because many counties are unable to raise the required funds year after year. Many organizations, which contribute one year, are unable to do so the following year. The lives of Florida's children are at stake here. It has been documented in the tragic reality that poor children are twice as likely as other children to have physical or mental disabilities or other chronic health conditions that impair daily activity. Florida's continuing failure to provide access to quality health care for all children exacts its most painful toll in preventable sickness, disability, and deaths of our infants and children.

   No other state in the United States requires a local match. The barriers to health care that the local match has created in Florida has not been an issue for families in other states. The local match idea was creative and appeared to be a great idea. But it has proven to create obstacles and serious problems for communities without the resources to raise the funds. Children in these counties are the ones who suffer unjustly. Yes, this is a social justice concern to be addressed by Florida's legislature. The current system, which leaves behind children in counties that cannot raise the match, is so inequitable, and the disparities between the rich and poor as well as those with and those without access are so great, that it is clearly unjust.

   In cities across the state, the Catholic community serve the sick and pickup the pieces where health care is not accessible, such as in rural areas where migrant farm workers live and work. We send mobile units to these needy areas very often staffed with volunteer doctors and other caring people. Our urgency in requesting that the local match requirement be replaced with state funds comes from our traditional principles and everyday experience with families who are the working poor or who are living in poverty and unable to access health care for their children.

   We urge the Florida legislature to adopt a plan to replace the local match with state funds which will protect the life and dignity of all Florida's children.

   We advocate for health care for all children whose families are unable to provide health care coverage through employer-based or private coverage due to the level of their income. The local match requirement has created a barrier to effective care for the poor and vulnerable if they happen to live in a county without the matching funds.

   Great strides have been made in providing health care to Florida's children by the implementation of the Florida Kid Care Program. Now is the time for the Florida Legislature to make the changes in the state budget to address the needs of the weak and disadvantaged children who have been left behind. We ask our Governor and Legislators to extend access to the benefits of the Florida Healthy Kids program to low income uninsured children in every county throughout the state of Florida.

   The Florida Catholic Conference recommends that the local match requirement be replaced with state funds in the 2001-2002 state budget.

   Thank you.