Just a few months ago, our leaders were breathlessly close to expanding healthcare coverage for kids. Now? They are considering significantly cutting these critical programs. An estimated 540,000 children who now have healthcare coverage could suddenly become uninsured and a total of 1.3 million children in the state would no have healthcare coverage. Huh?! This is definitely a "Honey, turn the car around!" moment!

We need your spectacular, mom navigational powers because our state is headed in the wrong direction! Click here to tell our state leaders, "Let's Get Back on Course with Healthcare for All Kids!"

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24728

California, like the rest of the country, is facing tough economic times. In response, some of our legislators are proposing to make significant cuts to programs that help working families, including healthcare coverage for kids. But this doesn't make sense -- during bad economic times, families need more support, not less. And covering all kids saves money (and lives)!

Things are moving quickly, so we need to move fast also. Let's generate thousands of messages from MomsRising.org members - so many that our leaders will really stop and take notice - and reconsider where we are heading.

We can steer California back to a time when we have economic security and healthy families. Especially in a time of shrinking resources, insuring all kids makes economic sense.

• When children have gaps in coverage and do not get timely preventive care, they often end up requiring more expensive health care, such as hospitalizations and emergency room visits. One study found that uninsured children are 5 times more likely to use an emergency room. [1]

• A study of 9 local Children's Health Initiatives (CHI) in California found that providing children health insurance reduced hospitalizations in the CHI counties by 25 percent and saved up to $7.35 million annually in preventable hospitalizations. If all low-income children had health insurance, the state could save $24.3 million per year in preventable hospitalizations. [2]

The more people who send messages, the bigger the impact we'll make together. Forward this email to friends and family so they can send their messages too.

** Don't forget to click here to send a message to your CA legislators that it is more important than ever to achieve healthcare coverage for all kids in California. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24728

Thanks for all you do!

Donna & Ashley

[1] American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. No Health Insurance? It's Enough to Make You Sick. American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, November 1999.

[2] Michael R. Cousineau, et al., Covering California's Kids Evaluation: Children's Health Initiatives Have Helped Prevent Over 1,000 Unnecessary Child Hospitalizations Annually, (Center for Community Health Studies, University of Southern California, December 2007), Michael R. Cousineau, et al., "Preventable Hospitalizations Among Children in California Counties After Child Health Insurance Expansion Initiatives," Medical Care, Vol. 46 (2008): 142-147.

P.S. To learn more about what's at stake for children's health in the Governor's budget proposal, see http://www.100percentcampaign.org/resources/updates/2008/update-080515.html