MomsRising Celebrates Twelfth Birthday of Healthy Families Program

NEWS RELEASE

July 22, 2010

CONTACT: Gretchen Wright, 202/371-1999

MomsRising Celebrates Twelfth Birthday of

Healthy Families Program

California Moms Deliver Birthday Cards with Messages of Thanks to State Legislators

Today marks the twelfth anniversary of Healthy Families Program which has allowed nearly 900,000 California children to see a doctor, get their teeth cleaned, and get their eyes checked. This program has given peace of mind to hundreds of thousands of California parents who are struggling financially. To celebrate the “birthday” of the program, California moms and kids delivered birthday cards to the California legislature. The cards contained messages of thanks collected by MomsRising from its members across the state. MomsRising is an online and on-the ground grassroots organization for moms and everyone who has a mom.

Among the messages are:

Healthy Families has been a life saver for us. I lost my job in September of 2008, and 3 months later my son was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Without Healthy Families we may have gone bankrupt, and still probably not have been able to get our son all the medicare care he needs.

Now thanks to the assistance and great care by Healthy Families our son's condition is almost under control, and he is feeling so much better. Thank you!

—Louise, Irvine, CA

Thanks to Healthy Families my kids can go and see the doctor. My daughter has athsma and she gets really sick, If she didn’t have Healthy Families, I really don't know what I would have done. Happy Birthday, Healthy Families, and thank you for taking care of our kids. Keep up doing a great job.

—Martha, Downey, CA

As a teacher in a low income neighborhood, I depend on Healthy Families to help my students come to school healthy and ready to learn. Thank you.

—Cec, Encino, CA

“Our children’s health is a primary concern for moms and dads,” said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “The Healthy Families Program has helped hundreds of thousands of children get the care they need and given their parents peace of mind – at least about their children’s health care. Between 2007 and 2009, the number of California children who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year increased from 1.1 to 1.5 million, as many parents lost jobs and health benefits. The Healthy Families Program has been an enormous boon to those families, but in the past year, premiums and co-payments for the program have increased dramatically. The federal Patient Protection and Affordability Act will likely prevent the Governor’s current budget proposal from raising premiums even higher, but we need to remain ever-vigilant to ensure that this kind of threat to California families’ economic security and their children’s health is gone for good.

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MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable child care, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many mothers. MomsRising also advocates for health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2010, Forbes.com named MomsRising's web site as one of the “Top 100 Websites For Women.”