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Keiki Care Was Successful
September 25, 2009 | 08:48 AM

Mahalo plenty for writing this article. Misinformation has spread rampantly about Hawai‘i's Keiki Care program and Fox's story was not fair, balanced, or accurate! Rollover from the HMSA Children's Plan was a ONE TIME event when Keiki Care started. After that most kids were required to be uninsured at least six consecutive months. The plan had limited benefits and out-of-pocket expenses which also discouraged parents from dropping private health insurance. Outreach was for the small targeted "gap group" kids who were ineligible for Med-QUEST's programs and approximately 40 were enrolling per month.

For those who don't philosophically believe we should cover all kids with health insurance the same as we cover all seniors through Medicare, think about where your tax dollars should be wisely spent: inexpensive children's health insurance programs or bailing out hospitals for uncompensated health care. In 2008 there were 3,302 total number of visits to hospital rooms by uninsured kids in Hawai‘i. The average hospital bill was $1,346 for a total of $4.4 million.

Keiki Care was a successful public-private partnership organized and implemented by state and community partners! This web page posts factual information about the topic: http://www.coveringkids.com/news/Section_253.asp

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