Photo credit: Photo by Flickr user Lauren Chagaris

Are you staring down a pile of dirty laundry right now (Full Disclosure: I am. Basically always)? Laundry, like dishes, can feel like one of those endless chores. No matter how often you do it, you just keep generating more of it. The clothing that we wear every day should be as toxic-chemical-free as possible; but with our busy schedules (including those endless chores like laundry), detoxing your clothing can feel like a hassle. Luckily, there are easy, budget-friendly ways to make your laundry safer without adding a lot of extra work to your laundry process.

Cool it: Save money, and energy, by lowering the temperature of your washing machine. According to Savvy Brown, 85% of the energy used to wash clothes goes entirely to heating up the water. Cold water is color-safe, gentler on delicates, and a money saver, since lower temperatures can lower your gas bill too. Surprisingly, cold water can also have a positive effect on your indoor air quality. Alexandra Zissu, author of Planet Home, says “heating water blasts volatile chemicals, including chlorine in municipal water, into your breathing space.”

Buying laundry supplies: Keep these rules in mind when you stock up on laundry supplies:

• Skip the fragrances: Avoid laundry supplies with fragrances, which may be linked to toxic chemicals like phthalates. Washington Toxics Coalition recommends looking beyond products with Fragrance-Free labels, which may still contain fragrances, and choosing products that list all of their ingredients
• What to look for: The Center for Environmental Health recommends choosing “vegetable-based laundry detergent (made from corn, palm kernel, or coconut oil) that is fragrance-free, dye-free, and does not contain optical brighteners.”
• Look it up: Look up products using on-the-go tools like the Good Guide. Learn more about toxic chemicals in popular laundry brands, and cleaning supplies, with this fact sheet from Women’s Voices for the Earth.

DIY laundry supplies: Replace a few standard laundry supplies with easy, DIY versions featuring just a few inexpensive ingredients.

• Bleach: Try this tip from Women’s Voices for the Earth! Substitute bleach with hydrogen peroxide; Soak your dingy white clothes for 30 minutes in the washer with 1/2 cup 20% peroxide.
• Laundry detergent: Baking soda, castille soap, and water are all you’ll need for this DIY detergent recipe.
• Fabric softener: Healthy Child, Healthy World recommends replacing your fabric softener with 1/2 to 3/4 cup of baking soda. 

Easy stain removal: Ditch toxic, commercial stain removers (and save a little money) and try out these easy old-school stain removal tips. This infographic shows you how to remove common stains with ingredients like baking soda, lemon juice, and club soda.

Dry cleaning: But what about those dry-cleanables lingering in your closet? Perchloroethylene, a chemical prominently used in dry cleaning, has been linked to cancer as well as nervous system, kidney, liver and reproductive disorders. If it’s not possible for you to give up dry cleaning, there are some easy solutions. Switch from traditional dry cleaning to wet cleaning, which replaces common toxic solvents with biodegradable soap. Debra Lynn Dadd (The Queen of Green) has an outline of which solvents to look out for, and which ones are safe to use. Healthy Child, Healthy World recommends using these two directories to find local, green dry-cleaners.

If you want to stick with your dry cleaner, try to dry clean less items, less frequently. Go through your dry clean only clothing and determine if any of it could be washed by hand instead of sent to the cleaners. And when you bring dry cleaning home, take it out of the plastic and let it off gas outside or in a well ventilated area.

In California, CHIP is known as the Healthy Families Program and provides health coverage for more than 870,000 children. Healthy Families has meant that the Reick boys of Fresno can get the care they need to manage their asthma, and that the Skinner kids of Riverside can stay active in their extra-curricular sports programs. Healthy Families has provided a variety of needed care for the Magana children of Los Angeles, from immunizations and check-ups to the diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening thyroid cancer.

This success of CHIP nationally was in part boosted by federal CHIPRA incentive bonus payments for states that simplified the application process for children’s coverage and made significant progress in increasing the number of insured children. In December 2011, the federal government awarded nearly $300 million in CHIPRA performance bonuses to 23 states.

Unfortunately, for the third year in a row, California failed to qualify for a bonus, losing out on millions of dollars of federal funds that are desperately needed. While California has made efforts to streamline enrollment for children, and launched a new online enrollment tool for Healthy Families (available in English and Spanish at www.healtheapp.net), the state has not made significant enough strides at enrolling uninsured children into health coverage.

The state’s inadequate enrollment gains are made more stark by the fact that two out of every three uninsured children in California, close to 700,000 kids, are currently eligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families but not enrolled.

In 2012, California must do better at connecting uninsured children with the quality, comprehensive, affordable health coverage they need to grow healthy and learn well. To that end, the 100% Campaign (a collaborative effort of The Children’s Partnership, Children Now, and Children’s Defense Fund-California) have developed a Healthy Child Checklist to remind parents of some easy ways to ensure their child stays healthy this year, including applying for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families coverage, which families can do at any time of the year, and with www.healtheapp.net, at any hour.

In addition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which President Obama signed in March 2010, further strengthens coverage for children by no longer allowing private insurers to deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition. Further, the ACA has already benefited children by requiring coverage of preventive services without co-payments, eliminating lifetime or annual limits, and prohibiting insurers from rescinding coverage.

Looking back on how much has changed for children’s coverage in the past three years, there is much to celebrate. More children have health insurance today than at any point in American history. The opportunity to improve children’s health will continue to grow as California moves forward with implementation of important provisions of CHIPRA and the ACA.

To make these opportunities most meaningful and successful for children in California, we need to focus now on enrolling eligible children and creating a “culture of coverage.” If we work together, we can ensure that more California children have the health coverage they need to grow up healthy.

California parents can learn more about children’s health coverage by calling

1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669) or apply for children’s health coverage directly online at www.healtheapp.net or www.benefitscal.org.

Thursday afternoon, I participated in the MomsRising live Tweet Chat with the White House on Unemployment Insurance and the Administration’s priorities for families for 2012. Unemployment was front and center because on Feb. 28, federally-funded unemployment benefits will expire for millions of long-term unemployed workers still trying to find jobs in this difficult economy. Struggling families need the benefit of extended UI benefits, and they need the nation’s policymakers to focus on restoring health to the economy and creating an environment that promotes jobs creation.

At the same time, policymakers must focus on the nation’s youngest citizens. In 2011, myriad data was released demonstrating that children are worse off due to the state of the economy and nation’s families. The year 2011 also saw an increase in child poverty, with one in four young children living in poverty. There also was a decline in child well-being as measured across a wide range of domains directly related to economic losses for families with children. And a recent article on economic mobility found that children in the United States are less likely to move up the economic ladder than in any other developed country.

But policy can make a difference. During the Tweet Chat, the White House responded to our question about  early education investments by noting that the Administration continues to make early learning a priority. It is true. In difficult budgets in FY 2011 and FY 2012, Head Start and child care received funding increases. The White House’s signature early childhood initiative, the Early Learning Challenge, came to fruition through funding for Race To the Top in FY 2011. In November, the Administration announced the first Office of Early Learning in the Department of Education, and in December it selected the first round of Early Learning Challenge grant recipients to receive funds for the critically important work of building strong, high-quality state systems out of fragmented early childhood programs and services.

Hopefully the commitment to children doesn’t end there because there is a lot more work to be done. Despite momentum, these are not the brightest days for early childhood. Only one in six children federally-eligible for child care assistance receives any help. In 22 states, families seeking child care assistance face waiting lists or frozen intake. Fewer than half of eligible preschoolers attend Head Start despite decades of research showing this critical comprehensive early education and family support program can help improve the odds for poor children. Moreover, Early Head Start reaches less than 4 percent of eligible infants and toddlers, a group of children for whom finding quality, affordable child care is a near impossibility for families regardless of income.

These core early childhood programs provide young children access to quality early education that helps prepare them to succeed in school and in life. And children need this support more than ever. The data on child well-being and poverty show that we are failing our children.

The Administration asked what should its policy priorities be for upcoming fiscal year 2013. Presidential candidates are also touting their priorities for the nation. The future of the nation will be determined not just by economic and workforce policies put in place now, but also by how we treat and invest in children, our future.

Putting a priority on young children means putting a priority on where children spend their time, which is a child care setting for 12 million young children every day. Quality child care builds a strong foundation for children’s healthy development. In 2012, Congress and the Administration demonstrated they understand the importance of investments in children in these difficult budgetary times. But the evidence shows we still have quite a way to go. In 2013 and beyond, we must make sure investing in young children remains a priority.

Follow me on Twitter at @HNMatthews

Cleaner Living: Toxin #4- Coal Tar

By Dena Fleno, CTWorkingMoms.com blogger

Um, what?

I hadn’t heard of this one until I started researching.

Coal Tar in personal care products is the same as the stuff they use in pavement sealant, just in lower doses. It is a known human carcinogen, with industrial coal tar recently being banned in Washington after it started turning up in ordinary house dust as well as in streams, lakes and other waterways at levels that concern government researchers. It is banned for use in cosmetics in the European Union. It is also a photosensitizer, making skin more at risk for burning and overexposure in sunlight.

As for its use in personal care products, it gets a big whopping 10 on the hazard scale that EWG uses. Coal tar used to be found in dark-colored hair dyes , but has since been removed from those products (though what they use now may not be any better) since it caused allergic reactions in some people (the cancer thing is just icing). It is, however, still being used in dandruff shampoo such as Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo and some psoriasis creams.

What to do?

Though it is not one of those products found everywhere it is found in some pretty popular brands that people buy, especially men. There is no definitive evidence (since it hasn’t been studied enough) that using personal products with Coal tar lead to increased cancer risk, but why would you want to slather your head or body with something that has been banned for use on a road?

Switch the coal tar products for those without it, and let your loved ones know as well.

Her other posts to date:

Cleaner Living: Toxin #1- Phthalates

Cleaner Living: Toxin #2- Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A)

Cleaner Living: Toxin #3- Oxybenzone

About Dena:

Dena is the busy mom of a 6-year-old son and a 19 month old daughter. Her other job is working as a representative for a labor union. In her “free time” she enjoys a good book, a glass (or 3) of wine, cooking, and looking forward to the day she may finally be able to pee in peace. Her biggest hope in life is that she will produce two happy, healthy adults who will treat themselves and others with compassion and kindness

Body wash and Soap: A good liquid castile soap can be used as a face wash, body wash, and as a simple hand soap. Check the label when you’re buying liquid castile soap; Women’s Voices for the Earth recommends avoiding sodium lauryl (laureth) sulfate (SLS) and Diethanolamine (DEA). For sensitive skin, you may want to use unscented soap, or dilute it with warm water. If you’re buying other soaps and shower gels, make sure to look them up on the Skin Deep database first.

Shower Curtains: You know that sharp, new shower curtain smell? That’s the smell of chemicals off-gassing. According to Healthy Child, Healthy World, “shower curtains contain a host of other chemicals (Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs) which are linked to central nervous system, liver and kidney damage.” Next time you’re in the market for a new shower curtain, choose a cloth curtain, or one of the PVC-free shower curtains on this list from CHEJ. If you do purchase a new vinyl curtain, open it outside and let it off-gas outside of your home before you hang it up.

Cleaning supplies: Tub cleaners, sink scrubbers, tile sparklers—according to your local cleaning supply aisle, bathrooms require quite a few specific products. Skip the toxic chemicals in many conventional cleaning supplies by trying these easy DIYs.

• Toilet bowl cleaner: Women’s Voices for the Earth recommends sprinkling your toilet bowl with baking soda, then drizzling distilled white vinegar in the bowl, and letting the mixture soak for at least 30 minutes. Then scrub the bowl with a toilet brush.
• Tub cleaner: Try this recipe from Healthy Child, Healthy World– Mix 1 2/3 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup liquid soap and 1/2 cup water.
• Glass spray: My favorite easy recipe, from Alexandra Zissu: Just mix equal parts water and distilled white vinegar.

Shampoo and Conditioner: Do a little research before your next haircare shopping trip. Look up shampoos, conditioners, and hair products on the Skin Deep database and the Good Guide. Both of these sites offer handy apps, so you can look up products while you shop. Or skip the searching (and save some money) with these easy DIYs.

• Shampoo: This Planet Home recipe is so easy, and uses ingredients you probably already have at home! To whip up a bottle of homemade shampoo, just combine ½ cup of baking soda with three cups of warm water in a bottle.

• Conditioner: Here’s a recipe from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. You’ll need: one egg yolk, ½ teaspoon olive oil, and 3/4 cup lukewarm water. Beat the egg yolk until it’s thick and white. Add the oil and mix well. Then add the water into the egg mixture and mix well.  Massage into clean, damp hair. Rinse with plenty of warm water after about 10 minutes.

Reduce bathroom moisture: Damp bathrooms can be breeding grounds for mold. Try these two easy tips from Planet Home to reduce your bathroom moisture:

• Shower with a window or door open, and the exhaust fan on.
• Take colder showers, which not only reduces moisture on the walls, but saves energy!

Vintage kids games are fun; but vintage legislation is not. Sadly, when it comes to protecting our kids from toxic chemicals, there’s a dangerous mega Mad Libs-sized blank space where comprehensive toxic chemicals reform should be. And as we all know, protecting our kids from toxics chemicals is no road trip game. It’s serious business.

Fill in the blank for families! Tell us why you want comprehensive chemicals reform: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform because ______________.”

Okay, so it’s not as funny as a hippo walking into a punch bowl. In fact, your fill-in-the-blank answer may not be funny at all. It might be very serious.

As you’ve likely guessed, this is about more than a Mad Lib game.  We’ll be delivering the answers you submit to leaders as we urge them to fix our broken chemical system.  And the voices and ideas from parents across the nation, combined together, are a powerful force for change.  Every submission makes a difference and adds up.  (So feel free to forward this to friends and family so they can act too).

That’s right, we’re compiling your fill-in-the-blank messages and bringing them straight to the top so Congress can know why families need comprehensive chemicals reform. Click here to add your message!

The time to act is now.  Our current chemicals legislation, the Toxic Substances Control Act, has not been updated since 1976. Back then, we didn’t know as much about how toxic chemicals can migrate from the materials and products in which they’re used – including furniture, plastics, and food cans – into our bodies. Our broken system leaves us exposed to countless toxic chemicals every day, chemicals that put our families at risk for cancer, learning disabilities, infertility, and more. We need comprehensive chemicals reform because we can’t protect our kids and families from toxics without the help of federal legislation.

*Share your experience today with us–and with Congress–by clicking here to fill in this question: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform because ______________.”

All of your feedback will be compiled into a book for Congress. We’ll personally present it to legislators as we educate them about the need for an update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). An update to TSCA would provide vigorous oversight of chemical use to ensure all products are safer, and it would give the federal government enough authority to require that chemicals be tested for safety before they are put into the products we use every day.

Sharing the personal experiences of parents makes a huge difference when we’re talking to legislators of all stripes. In fact, they are our strongest legislative tool. Click here to share what you think with Congress by answering this question: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform, because_________.”

Tell us–and national leaders–today why you want comprehensive chemicals reform. And make sure to pass this along to your friends and families. The more voices we have, the bigger the impact! 

Together we can build a safer and healthier nation for all of our children.

A truly clueless if well-intentioned column by Gene Marks titled “If I Were A Poor Black Kid” in Forbes magazine is getting righteously ripped from journalists all around the web. They’re correctly pointing out how bereft Marks’ column is of history, research, practical awareness, racial sensitivity, or the sheer realities of hunger or even homelessness that low-income children face. Marks seems to suggest that kids from impoverished backgrounds – all too many of whom are African American – can simply access computers and lift themselves up by their digital bootstraps to use free websites and enter elite prep schools or colleges. Maybe a handful of motivated kids will manage a heroic feat like that despite all the odds, but is this going to work for the majority of poor kids?

And here’s exactly what’s wrong with Marks’ perspective and why it’s indicative of a 1% mentality among billionaire education philanthropists (Silicon Valley included) that results in failure to truly invest in public schools, despite those same businesses relying on a highly skilled and educated workforce: solutions lie in privatization — individuals hands on individual (digital) bootstraps.

But also privatization of another kind: web-assisted businesses that hollow out the public school system and see it as nothing but a lucrative market. Marks’ list of ed-tech resources is lengthy and a roll call of ideas, good and bad, to bring education into the computer age. But as recent article after article has pointed out, online education companies hawking virtual schooling are providing low quality schooling to at-risk kids with no accountability, and at the same time siphoning off public money intended for neighborhood schools on the corner. Billionaire philanthropists thwart democratic decision-making about taxpayer priorities by using string-laden foundation donations as a form of education policy, instead of those same businesses or their owners paying taxes to fund public education. For example, in Seattle, titans of Microsoft corporation donated to groups that swatted down a 2010 ballot initiative to tax millionaire incomes that would’ve funded public schools in Washington state.

This isn’t a partisan issue, it’s a greed issue. Many of these well-meaning “edupreneurs” are Democrats who are reliably liberal on stopping climate change, or banning genetically modified foods. But when it comes to the nation’s schools and cherishing the fact that every public school serves every child who comes to the door as they are, conveying important ideas about citizenship, diversity, democracy, and a common good to the nation’s children, “edupreneurs” miss the rainforest for the money tree. Our open, publicly-funded public school system, deeply woven into the fabric of our open, freedom- and innovation-loving society, is the gem in the crown of America that people from around the world for decades have tried to replicate. Certainly it’s our bricks-and-mortar universities, and not mediocre for-profit online colleges, that are still the envy of the world. Close the door of equal opportunity to children, especially poor children, and we turn our backs on our legacy as the land of opportunity.

Is the answer to reject technology, to do as 19th century Luddites did and smash laptops, the equivalent of mechanized looms, in order to save schools? Emphatically no, and here’s where I think many miss an important point about Marks’ misguided piece. The internet provides the same frictionless means to disintermediate middle men as it provides opportunities to insert middle men. And today’s education middle men are testing companies, textbook publishers, online learning companies, teacher certification companies, and standardized test prep companies, sometimes all rolled into the same conglomerate — taking a giant, profitable chunk from states and school districts even as money that goes to classrooms where kids are gets cut.

So here’s what I’d like to see: flip this state of affairs. Disintermediate high-tech middlemen selling silicon snake oil. State departments of education could start acting in the public interest and creating FREE and OPEN SOURCE websites where best practices in teaching, outstanding examples of curriculum, test prep materials, tests themselves, teacher certification, syllabi and other resources are made available to teachers and any student who wants to improve herself. With the millions saved from not buying an international conglomerate’s tests, curriculum, online school materials, test prep, or online teacher certification, there’d be plenty of money for small, intimate classrooms, plentiful well-trained and well-paid teachers, and every child who needs wrap-around services would have them. With the money saved from eliminating the middle man, we’d have plenty to invest in after-school enrichment, high-quality daycare, remedial help, special ed shadows, children’s dental or medical care, fully-funded music/art/sports programs, nutritious real vegetables (not pizza-like vegetables), and gifted and talented education.

The longstanding problems that kids from disadvantaged backgrounds face need a broad social and political response, not solutions that are occasional feel-good stories about one or two motivated kids who figure out how to do calculus online. Realizing you can use library computers to access the internet for free isn’t going to fill the stomachs of some 20% of all children –white, African American, Latino, Asian, Native American — under 18 who are struggling this very minute.

Poverty, hunger, homelessness, parents who are ineffective or unable to parent – these are all analog problems kids have that need the help of other people, not only computers, to solve. What Gene Marks and other Silicon Valley “edupreneurs” forget is that we live in a complicated three-dimensional world that doesn’t fit on a spreadsheet or a computer screen. Digital bootstraps aren’t enough; to help all the nation’s kids we need lifelines offered face to face to real kids, from a person who cares in their neighborhood schools.

Cynthia Liu is founder of the grassroots education news site K12NewsNetwork.com, which empowers parents, educators, and students to report on important events at their local neighborhood schools and provides tools for maximum civic engagement in support of public education. This piece originally appeared in Technorati.

• Top 5 Green Beauty Tips for Fall
• Tips Tuesday: Green Tips for Pets
• Get Ready for a Green Halloween!
• Detox Your Workday and Green Your Office
• A Green Makeover for Your Cleaning Supplies
• Five Tips for the Non-Toxic Chef
• Tips Tuesday: Green Holiday Travel
• Tips Tuesday: Nontoxic Thanksgiving Makeovers
• Tips Tuesday: 5 Tips for Non-Toxic Holidays
• Tips Tuesday: Be a savvy, health-conscious, and socially responsible consumer and avoid the Toxic Trio
• Gift Guide: Non-toxic Beauty Gifts and DIY Tips
• 3 Easy Steps to Toxic Free and Yummy Stocking Stuffers
• 5 Tips for Non-Toxic Toy Shopping
• 5 Green Shipping Tips for Your Holiday Gifts
• Non-toxic Tips for Winter Coughs and Colds

My years of grumpy congestedness have made me a bit of a cold prevention expert. No one likes to be sick and grumbley, especially during the holidays. And cold/cough product manufacturers tend to prey on that this time of year, with commercials full of anxious moms, sick kids and grownups, and pricey, chemical laden products packaged in plastic. Don’t fall into an expensive, antibacterial trap. Try these tips and tricks for cold/cough prevention, and safer cold/cough treatment:

Push fluids: My mom is a nurse, and no matter what ails you, “push fluids” (aka drink lots and lots of water) is her battle cry. Drinking lots of water helps flush your system out, and is an important piece of your cold/cough avoidance plan, as well as your cold/cough treatment. If you’re drinking a lot of water, make sure it’s safe by using a filter. For a decent filter at a decent price, the Environmental Working Group recommends a carbon filter. Their water filter guide will help you choose the filter that’s right for you and your budget needs. Make sure you also filter your water if you’re boiling water for tea or soup. If you don’t have a filter, the Green Guide recommends placing an open container of water in the fridge for a few hours, which helps filter out chlorine, and let water run for a full minute before you use it for cooking or drinking.

Replace your soups: Soup is a surefire helper in the fight against sore throats and congestion. Skip the BPA that often makes an appearance in canned soups by making your own or choosing soups that are jarred or boxed. Parent Earth has several kid friendly soup recipes that can be whipped up for lunch or dinner. Invent your own simple soup by adding beans, veggies, and/or grains to boxed broth or easy homemade broth.

Cold/Cough DIYs: Antiseptic sprays? Cough drops? Cold medicine? There are easy  DIY solutions for all of these.

• Cough drops: The Pistachio Project shows you how to whip up a batch of homemade honey cough drops.
• Antiseptic spray: Keep your home clean without chemical-laden antibacterial sprays. Try this antiseptic spray recipe from Healthy Child, Healthy World.
• Cold relief: Dr. Greene has an easy recipe for homemade cold relief that’s made out of ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and fridge.

Keep it clean: Forget what the commercials say—You don’t need to douse your home in antibacterial cleaning sprays. Germs do like to hang out on surfaces in our homes though, so make sure that you routinely clean items in your home that your family regularly handles. This includes game controllers, remote controls, cell phones, countertops, door knobs, and keyboards. Our guide to making your own cheap and easy nontoxic cleaning supplies will help you keep your cleaning supply cabinet stocked and free of toxic chemicals.

Do you have tips for staying healthy during cold/cough season?  Leave them in the comments, or visit our Facebook page and share them with the MomsRising community.

This is good news because we know that kids grow healthier and learn better when they have quality health care coverage.

Much of the reduction in the number of uninsured kids can be attributed to the existence of Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program. These critical programs provide comprehensive health coverage for eligible low-income children that the vast majority of parents are satisfied with. Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families have filled the insurance void for children left by the shedding of employer-sponsored insurance, as an analysis by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research points out.

There are good reasons to believe that more children will see this trend of increasing insurance coverage:

First, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 is already in full effect in California. In 2011 alone, hundreds of thousands of Californian children and youth gained coverage when children were no longer allowed to be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions and when young adults could remain on their parents’ coverage up to age 26.

The California Health Benefit Exchange (HBEX) is working in overdrive to get up and running by 2014. In part, that means developing a seamless eligibility and enrollment system that will make it easier for families to enroll in health coverage – including for the 2 out of 3 uninsured California children who are eligible and could enroll in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families today but have not yet enrolled. There’s also a lot of good work being done to figure out how to make the enrollment experience work best for consumers and ensure there is appropriate and adequate assistance available to help families navigate the complex health care world.

Hundreds of thousands of kids will get affordable coverage through the HBEX’s individual and small business markets, and even more will have more secure coverage through their parents’ employers as a result of the ACA.

A new Health Affairs article finds that upon full ACA implementation, an estimated 3.2 million children can be expected to gain health care coverage nationally, and up to 95% of all children will have health coverage. Despite the enormous amount of work that still needs to be done, the ACA opportunities before California can bring us much closer to the more than decade-long goal of 100%coverage for all children…and that’s some good news for California’s kids!

Also posted at California Progress Report