Healthy Kids, a locally funded health insurance program for children, has saved the state of California and the federal government $7.3 million in annual healthcare costs by preventing more than 1,000 hospitalizations per year, according to new data released Monday.
Healthy Kids works to increases low-income children's access to primary care to decrease their chances of hospitalizations for preventable illnesses and manageable conditions, such as bacterial pneumonia, gastroenteritis and asthma.
The study, conducted by the Center for Community Health Studies at the University of Southern California and funded by The California Endowment and First Five California, focused on children enrolled in Healthy Kids through Children's Health Initiatives in nine counties - Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz.
According to the study, the state and federal government could save as much as $30 million annually in healthcare costs if Healthy Kids was expanded to all California counties.
The California Children's Health Initiatives is a collaborative effort of 32 counties working to expand access to affordable health insurance to all children in California.
Healthy Kids programs are available to children ineligible for public health insurance programs such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, because of income or immigration status. Healthy Kids programs similar to those evaluated in the study are offered in 25 of the 32 counties, and collectively, they have insured more than 84,000 children in California.
"These are startling figures with significant policy implications," said Michael R. Cousineau, associate professor of research and director at the Center for Community Health Studies, USC Keck School of Medicine, and co-author of the policy brief. "This study links expanding coverage through local children's health initiatives to quantifiable savings to California's healthcare system and the taxpayers."
The study found that the average cost of a child hospitalization is $7,000, and it estimated that more than 333,000 preventable child hospitalizations occurred in California between 2000 and 2005, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Nine Children's Health Initiatives helped prevent 1,050 hospitalizations per year during the six years covered by the study, and it estimates that 2,050 additional preventable hospitalizations per year might have been averted if the initiatives had operated the full six years.
"Kids with access to healthcare coverage lead healthier lives, do better in school and grow up to become more productive members of society," said Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment. "State and local leaders must take steps to expand coverage to the nearly 800,000 children in California without health insurance and to ensure that the Children's Health Initiatives are protected so that thousands of children do not lose health coverage."