May 3, 2001

Many of California's low-income residents are missing out on government programs that could help them get food and health care.

Social service researchers and public officials say welfare reform might have scared some people from asking the government for help. They also say many people find the application process too cumbersome, feel embarrassed about accepting help or simply do not know what's available.

"Lack of information is clearly one of the overarching themes," said Larry Levitt, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group that studies health care issues.

The state's Healthy Families plan, which offers low-cost health insurance to children of working parents, is still not used by many of the eligible families, state figures show.

The federal food stamp program also has low enrollment compared with the number of eligible people.

Stepped-up publicity is boosting local enrollment in Healthy Families. In Stanislaus County, it rose from 1,958 children in March 2000 to 5,284 a year later, said David Jones, director of marketing and development for the county Health Services Agency.

An estimate of the number of county children who might be eligible was not available. Statewide figures show that only 420,000 of the estimated 670,000 to 850,000 eligible children had enrolled in the 2-year-old program by March.

Food stamp rolls in California shrank three times faster than the number of people eligible to use them from 1996 to 1999, according to California Food Policy Advocates.

The reported decline was about 30 percent in Stanislaus County, 41 percent in San Joaquin County and 44 percent in Merced County.

The lack of participation in Healthy Families has irked state officials because it has meant a loss of $341 million in unused federal funding.

President Bush's proposed budget cuts the national children's health insurance program by 26 percent. Legislation establishing the program had planned the reduction, mainly to help balance the federal budget in 2002, said Richard Popper, assistant director of the California board that oversees Healthy Families.

Food stamp rolls, meanwhile, have been dropping by double-digit percentages. Welfare reform laws have pushed millions of recipients into jobs and given some of them financial self-sufficiency, said George Manalo-LeClair, legislative director for California Food Policy Advocates.

He said many working people remain eligible, but they might not apply because food stamp offices are open only during the workday.

Bee staff writer John Holland and Knight Rider Newspapers contributed to this report.

Reprinted by permission of The Modesto Bee.