County Will Reach Out to Uninsured Children to Get Them Health and Dental Care
Thousands of children will have access to health care thanks to the King County Executive's Children's Health Initiative that was unanimously approved by the Metropolitan King County Council today. Passage of the measure commits $3 million over three years for outreach and linkage activities and puts King County in the forefront of ensuring all children have access to health and dental care, as well as preventative care.
The initiative's goal is to enroll 6,500 of the approximately 15,000 uninsured children in insurance within three years. Nine thousand children are eligible for the expanded health insurance coverage proposed by the governor and approved by the Legislature this year. The outreach efforts in King County will dovetail with the efforts of the state and will leverage state and federal funding.
The Executive's original initiative, proposed in May 2006, was modified in a collaborative process with the council as the state stepped up to expand coverage for children in the 2007 Legislative Session. During that time Group Health Cooperative and the Washington Dental Service each contributed $1 million to King County to fund inventive pilot programs to reach out to children without insurance that can be of high value to the state and replicated by the rest of the state when it implements its goal to cover all kids in 2010.
For the rest of this article please visit www.metrokc.gov.
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