We Must Work for Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids Program

I would like all Richmond District residents to be aware and take advantage of a great health care program for kid called the Healthy Kids Program.

Healthy Kids is a comprehensive health care insurance program, offering medical, dental and vision care services to the children of low- to middle-income families living in San Francisco.

The goal of Healthy Kids is to ensure that no child is turned away from receiving health care because of affordability or immigration status.

The Healthy Kids Program is administered by the San Francisco Health Plan and is intended to fill the gap for families whose income exceeds the limit for other federal or state-funded programs, yet still are not able to afford full health care coverage for their kids. Healthy Kids also covers children who are ineligible for Medi-Cal or the Healthy Families Program due to their immigration status.

A family's share of the cost, or premium, for the Healthy Kids Program is $4 per child, per month.

Every child deserves to be healthy. Yet there are nearly 10,000 uninsured children living in San Francisco without even the most basic health care. Created at the initiative of the SF Department of Public Health and funded by the SF Children and Families Commission and the SF Board of Supervisors, Healthy Kids will provide health care coverage to all these children.

Who is Eligible for Healthy Kids?

Children who are uninsured, under the age of 19, residents of San Francisco living in families with income below 300 percent of the federal poverty limit, people not eligible for Medi-Cal or the Healthy Families Program, undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants and U.S. citizens.

The Healthy Kids Program provides complete medical coverage, including all preventative care, dental care, vision care, immunizations, prescriptions, hospital care, mental health services, substance abuse treatment and health examinations for school and sports.

I encourage any family interested in full health care coverage for their kids to take advantage of this opportunity. If you are unsure of your eligibility, there is no harm in calling to find out if you qualify. Do it for the kids.

For more information, call (415) 777-9992.

Power Savers Help Small Businesses

A program available to help small businesses in the Richmond District is the Power Savers program at the SF Department of the Environment.

Power Savers helps small businesses reduce their lighting costs up to 50 percent by targeting electrical lighting for upgrades. The 15-month program (ending June 2003) is available for the first 4,000 businesses that qualify.

Power Savers can help almost any small business in the City, including offices, retail stores, restaurants, light manufacturing, hotels, motels, entertainment locations, institutions (churches, schools, assembly centers, etc.) and convenience stores.

Power Savers is a lighting retrofit program. The fastest way to lower your electricity bill is to upgrade to more efficient lighting.

Because every business is different, Power Savers begins with a professional "lighting survey" of the business. This survey becomes the road map for how the program will benefit the business by itemizing all the fixtures that need to be replaced and recording the total energy and dollar savings. It also includes a scope of the work that will be done subject to the proprietor's approval. Savings will show up on the next month's bill and for months and years thereafter.

In most cases, retrofit work will not disrupt a business because the work usually takes one day or less. While many businesses prefer to schedule the work when they are closed or during a slow day, Power Savers can complete the work successfully with minimal interruption during normal hours of operation.

Once the work is completed and approved, the electrical contractor is paid directly. However, Power Savers provides a discount to help with the cost. If a business owner needs financing, the Small Business Development Center offers a line of credit to finance lighting efficiency work based on the lighting survey and plan of work. For businesses with marginal credit, SBDC will work to get the applicant qualified.

To participate in Power Savers, fax a copy of the business' electricity bill (including name, phone number and time to call) to the SF Department of the Environment at 355-3750. (For information in Chinese call 355-3719.)

Jake McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.