San Mateo County, Calif., Supervisors to Provide $2.7M to Expand Children’s Health Insurance Program

San Mateo County, Calif., supervisors last week voted to provide $2.7 million to expand the county's Children's Health Initiative to provide "near-universal care" for uninsured children, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The program, which the county launched in March with funds from a tobacco tax, provides health coverage for county children from birth to age five. The county plans to use the $2.7 million and an additional $5 million from private donors, corporations and the Peninsula Community Foundation to expand the program to cover county children from birth to age 18. About 24,000 children in the county lack health insurance, the Mercury News reports. In addition, the expanded program will include outreach programs to help enroll uninsured county families in public health insurance programs. County health officials hope to launch the expanded program by Jan. 1, 2003 (de Sa, San Jose Mercury News, 5/19).