SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Helping more than 30,000 Southern California children obtain health insurance, the Blue Shield of California (BSC) Foundation awarded a $4 million grant to the Children’s Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles (CHI) to expand healthcare coverage to children ages 6 to 18 years. This contribution, to be distributed over two years, is the largest grant ever awarded by the BSC Foundation.
CHI is a collaboration of foundations, employer groups, health plans and community advocates. CHI will provide funding to conduct outreach, enrollment and offer health care coverage for children up to 300% of the federal poverty level, which translates into $56,550 a year for a family of four. LA Care Health Plan will serve as the insurance plan administrator.
“Every child in Los Angeles deserves access to quality health care,” said Tanir Ami, who directs the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s program for the uninsured. “We are pleased to join other public-spirited organizations on this project to provide low-income kids an opportunity to see a doctor when they need one.”
The BSC Foundation plans to distribute approximately $15 million this year to assist the uninsured, as well as $8.5 million to combat domestic violence. The foundation’s commitment to the uninsured includes projects to help increase enrollment in public programs such as the one announced today, as well as direct grants to community clinics and other service providers.
To date, the BSC Foundation has given $7.2 million in grants to seven California counties to expand public programs, including Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego. In addition, every non-governmental community clinic in Los Angeles County received a grant from the foundation in 2003, a sum totaling nearly $1.5 million.
In another effort to widen access to public health insurance for kids, the Children’s Partnership of Los Angeles will launch an Express Lane Eligibility initiative later this year with the help of a $300,000 grant from the BSC Foundation. Express Lane Eligibility automatically enrolls children in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families based on the application submitted for the free and reduced-cost school lunch program.
Blue Shield of California Foundation was formed by Blue Shield of California, a not-for-profit corporation with more than 2.7 million members, 4,300 employees and 20 offices throughout California. The Blue Shield of California Foundation provides charitable contributions, conducts research and supports programs with an emphasis on domestic violence prevention, medical technology assessment and reducing the number of uninsured. For more information, visit the Blue Shield of California Web site at http://www.mylifepath.com/ or the Foundation at http://www.blueshieldcafoundation.org/.
For further information, please contact: Patrice Smith, Director of Corporate Communications, +1-415-229-6366, patrice.smith@blueshieldca.com, or Elise Anderson, Media Relations Manager, +1-310-568-2866, elise.anderson@blueshieldca.com, both for Blue Shield of California.
Web site: http://www.blueshieldcafoundation.org
Blue Shield of California
CONTACT: Patrice Smith, Director of Corporate Communications,+1-415-229-6366, patrice.smith@blueshieldca.com, or Elise Anderson, MediaRelations Manager, +1-310-568-2866, elise.anderson@blueshieldca.com, both ofBlue Shield of California
Web site: http://www.mylifepath.com/
