Teachers for Healthy Kids Project
The California Association of Health Plans (CAHP) and the California Teachers Association (CTA) recognize the correlation between a child's health status and school performance. While comprehensive and integrated school-based efforts to enroll uninsured children have been endorsed by government and private agencies, teachers, the most trusted line of communication to parents, have not been meaningfully engaged in health outreach. The goal of the Teachers for Healthy Kids Project is to address this situation by promoting teachers as information resources that can enhance parent awareness and lead to increased student access to health care.
Health Care crisis hits homeThe growing Health Care crisis is a major concern for CTA. Teachers are finding themselves affected by the situation – asked to pay for medical benefits, accept lesser plans, or in some cases, pass higher costs on to retirees.
"The crisis is now in the living rooms of the working middle class," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "Many families are having to decide between paying for health care and paying the mortgage or the grocery bill."
CTA is monitoring the situation, and as a step toward a solution, has supported SB 840 – the Single-Payer health care bill proposed by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). For information on SB 840 and other news and resources on the health care crisis,
click here.
