Working Partnerships’ vision is access to affordable, quality health care for all. Through a deep connection with our constituents, innovative thinking around policy frameworks, and experience at building effective coalitions, we have succeeded in building a replicable local model of universal health insurance for children: the Children’s Health Initiative, launched in 2001 and now providing health coverage to more than 121,000 children.

Now that the Children’s Health Initiative has been replicated by seventeen California counties and proposed as a statewide program, our next step towards universal coverage is to tackle another large pool of uninsured people: low income working adults.  Together with the Santa Clara County Health and Hospital System, we are currently developing a health insurance program to offer affordable, quality health care to the 40,000 uninsured low wage workers at small businesses in Santa Clara County.

At the same time, we recognize that quality health care is contingent upon access to a strong provider network, including safety net providers for those who do not yet have coverage. The decline in the safety net is a difficult problem to tackle at a local level; in addition to the overall dysfunction of the U.S. health care system, Santa Clara County’s safety net infrastructure has been rocked by a national company’s decision to shut down San Jose Medical Center, the only downtown hospital; by state-level funding cuts and expensive mandates; and by the overall state of the economy pulling down tax revenues. Our immediate strategy is to work with the city and county governments to preserve existing health services and find creative ways to fund them. A high priority is reestablishing downtown health services after the closure of San Jose Medical Center

In the longer term, we seek to build in a better health care safety net from the beginning by making health infrastructure a fundamental element of land-use planning. Through our work in the planning process for the major new development slated for Coyote Valley, Working Partnerships USA is pioneering a model for incorporating health care access and other social equity concerns into the principles of smart growth.

By integrating our work on these four projects – children’s health insurance, health coverage for working adults, maintaining the health care provider safety net, and linking health needs to smart growth – the efforts of Working Partnerships and our allies are moving our region and state towards a commitment to universal health care.

© 2008 Working Partnerships USA, All rights reserved.