During the 2003 recall campaign against then-Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger said he wanted all children to have medical coverage. Enrollment in the state's children's programs grew steadily during his early tenure.
Then, shortly after his 2006 reelection, Schwarzenegger unveiled a proposal to cover all children and most adults.
But the California Senate in January rejected a $14.9-billion deal between Schwarzenegger and Assembly Democrats.
Lawmakers also declined advocates' appeal to cover all children, saying the roughly $500-million annual cost was too much, given the state's $15.2-billion budget gap.
The state Health and Human Services Agency estimates several thousand children will be newly covered next year because of population increases and families enrolling their children in the state programs after losing private coverage.
"We continue to do outreach; we continue to enroll kids at a rapid rate," said Amy Palmer, an agency spokeswoman.
The privately run initiatives are underwritten primarily by First 5 commissions, which are funded by cigarette taxes; nonprofit foundations devoted to healthcare; and some local health plans and governments. But the foundations and governments supported the initiatives with the idea that they were stop-gaps until the state or Washington devised a comprehensive solution.
Dr. Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment, a Los Angeles-based healthcare philanthropy, said that his foundation's directors have agreed to continue underwriting some of the private insurance efforts for a few more years, but that they expect government to ultimately shoulder the responsibility.
"They're not willing to fund this forever," he said of his directors.
Some of those who lose coverage through children's programs could end up in already overtaxed hospital emergency rooms, said Olga Duran, director of health outreach services at Valley Community Clinic in North Hollywood.
Heng Chhiu, a machine operator who lives in Hayward, south of Oakland, said he isn't sure where his 2 1/2 -year-old daughter will get her medical care after the Alameda Alliance for Health ends coverage next month.
"My income is not too low, not too high," he said. "I have no idea yet."
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jordan.rau@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Children's health
In 2005, when a tenth of its children lacked insurance, here's how California compared with other states on some key health indicators, where a rank of 1st represents the place with the best outcomes:
42nd -- Children with health insurance
41st -- Toddlers receiving necessary vaccinations
7th -- Infant deaths
12th -- Keeping asthmatic
children out of the hospital*
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* Rankings except pediatric asthma are among 50 states and the District of Columbia. Asthma data were available from only 33 states.
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Sources: The Commonwealth Fund; UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
