Baby Cal Program

A new state health insurance program for prenatal and pediatric care--called "Baby-Cal"--was proposed Tuesday as a way of promoting the health of all pregnant women in California and their young children. The program, outlined in Sacramento by a private health care coalition, would provide insurance for about 60,000 pregnant women and 500,000 children under age 5 who currently have no coverage. These women and children make up a critical portion of the 5.

A new state health insurance program for prenatal and pediatric care--called "Baby-Cal"--was proposed Tuesday as a way of promoting the health of all pregnant women in California and their young children. The program, outlined in Sacramento by a private health care coalition, would provide insurance for about 60,000 pregnant women and 500,000 children under age 5 who currently have no coverage. These women and children make up a critical portion of the 5.

Over the next seven days in Sacramento, legislators will determine the funding of basic health services in California. The outcome has broad implications for the life of every citizen because the trauma and emergency-room programs are included.

Gov. Pete Wilson, continuing his fight against affirmative action programs, insisted Tuesday that California already has an alternative program to prepare minority youths for college on merit alone. But critics said that Wilson's alternatives are poorly financed at best and do not always accomplish what he says, and a Republican University of California regent who supports affirmative action called his plan "an impossible dream."