Tampabay: More local money needed to insure children

TALLAHASSEE -- Pinellas County is the state's fourth-richest county in personal income, but doesn't have enough money to cover the needy children who qualify for subsidized health insurance.

When parents like Jitu Patel call the state-run Healthy Kids program in Tallahassee, their children are put on a waiting list of 1,500 applicants. Until someone comes up with $201,000 to cover the shortfall, that is where they will stay.

Of the Florida counties that must contribute to the program before local children may enroll, only Pinellas came up short this year. If Patel of Clearwater lived in Hillsborough County, his daughter and son already would be covered.

"They give it to one county and they don't give it to another county," said Patel, 45, who owns Maytag Laundry in Largo. "That's not right."

Healthy Kids combines federal, state and local subsidies to provide low-cost health insurance to children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

The program covers about 168,400 children in the state, including 5,903 in Pinellas County. In Pinellas, parents pay a monthly premium of $15 per child, plus co-pays of $3 to $5 per office visit, for medical care through a health maintenance organization.

Of Florida's 67 counties, 35 must contribute a "local match" before local children receive coverage. It is up to largely volunteer coalitions to raise the match from county government, businesses and other agencies.

This year, Pinellas' bill comes to $405,000 -- but only $204,000 has been raised, said Elizabeth Rugg, executive director of Suncoast Health Council. The council serves as fiscal agent for the local coalition, Healthy Kids of Pinellas County.

Children who have the coverage won't get kicked out of the program as long as their parents pay the premiums on time. But since July 1, children seeking coverage have been turned away, and the waiting list continues to grow.

Since 1996, when Healthy Kids was expanded to include Pinellas, the county's Juvenile Welfare Board has been the primary benefactor, contributing about $853,200 toward the local match, Rugg said.

The other major donors have been the United Way, which for five years has given $70,000 to $80,000 annually, and the Pinellas County Commission. The commission contributed $75,000 for each of the past two years, and $50,000 in 1998.

Several companies, including Florida Progress and Catalina Marketing, have made one-time contributions of $5,000 or less, Rugg said.

For the most part, though, the taxpayer-funded Juvenile Welfare Board has footed the bill. Its support reached a high of nearly $299,000 in 1997, but dwindled this year to $59,580.

The board taxes Pinellas County property owners to pay for various childrens services. This year's tax rate is .8117 mills. A mill is equal to $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed taxable property value.

For example, the owner of a $100,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption will pay $60.88 to the Juvenile Welfare Board this year.

The board intended to contribute in decreasing amounts for five years only to get the program running and encourage other donors, said Jim Mills, executive director of the Juvenile Welfare Board.

Paying insurance premiums for medical care has never been a part of the board's mission, Mills said. He said the board was troubled that Healthy Kids addresses only children, instead of using a "family health care strategy."

"At this point, the board has said we've done our part to get the program started. It's time to move on and get back to our original agenda," he said.

Efforts to raise the local match in Pinellas and other counties have been hurt by recent federal regulations that restrict contributions from medical providers. Rugg said that last year she had verbal pledges of $100,000 from All Children's Hospital Foundation and other providers, but regulations banned her from accepting them.

In other west-central Florida counties, the Hillsborough County Commission paid its $485,000 local match with proceeds from its quarter-cent sales tax for indigent health care. The Hernando County School Board contributed to that county's bill. Pasco and Citrus counties are not required to contribute matching dollars.

Healthy Kids has plenty of fans in Pinellas County, but each of them has reasons why somebody else should pay the tab.

Volunteer fundraisers say local corporations aren't doing enough. Barbara Sheen Todd, vice chairwoman of the Pinellas County Commission and a new member of the Juvenile Welfare Board, said the Juvenile Welfare Board is "a more appropriate vehicle" than the county to support the program.

But Todd and Mills, the JWB's executive director, say it's up to state lawmakers to solve the problem by eliminating the local match. Last year, lawmakers requested an independent study of the issue and are expected to consider its recommendations this spring.

"I think the first place to look for funding is the state," Todd said.

Gov. Jeb Bush and House Speaker Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, support a local match. A spokeswoman for Senate President John McKay, R-Bradenton, said he has not taken a position.

"It will be an uphill battle," Feeney said this week, "to get us to write a blank check to the locals."

None of the debate does Patel much good. He and his wife, Yamini, receive health insurance through Publix, where Yamini works as a cashier. Adding daughter Kinnary, 16, and son Sunny, 6, to the policy would more than double the monthly bill, from $140 to $300.

"It would break me," Patel said.

In the meantime, he worries about Kinnary, who has complained about an earache for months, and Sunny, a typical rough-and-tumble boy.

"You know how small boys are," Patel said. "He might get hurt. He might break his ankle or something."

- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

To help

For information about contributing to the local match in Pinellas County, call Elizabeth Rugg at 727-217-7070. The Healthy Kids Web site is www.healthykids.org.

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