Health Officials Urge Immunizations

SAN ANTONIO -- As summer break comes to an end, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and its partners are making a final push for back-to-school immunizations.

Metro Health, the University Health System and the Northside Independent School District plan events in the coming weeks before school starts to maximize opportunities for families to have access to services. The goal is to prevent potentially life-threatening diseases like whooping cough, measles and meningitis.

There will be clinics throughout the city and a major immunization event on Aug. 18 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Freeman Coliseum. NISD officials said they plan to enforce a "no shots, no school" rule, which means that children without up-to-date shot records will not be allowed to attend class.

"It is one of the big jobs that our school nurses have," Shirley Schreiber, NISD director of health services, said of making sure that students are immunized. "So that it can be a safe and healthy environment."

New state-mandated immunizations will be required, especially for those children entering kindergarten or seventh grade.

Parents are also reminded to bring their child's most current shot record and insurance card when they their child immunized. No fees will be charged for children enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. For children with private health insurance, fees will be based on level of benefits.

Health officials said the new school year will pose an even bigger challenge due to the H1N1 flu virus. They said the virus continues to affect the community and expect a significant number of cases when school begins.

Kids will also need to be vaccinated against the virus when it comes available, probably in late October.

Governor signs bill assuring kids health insurance

PORTLAND — Thousands of Oregon children without insurance can now get coverage for their medical care — and by January the same will be true for all youngsters in the state, following Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s Tuesday signing of “Healthy Kids” legislation.

The Democratic governor’s signing of House Bill 2116 into law, along with his earlier approval of a companion bill, clears the way for one of Kulongoski’s longest-sought goals: bringing all Oregon children into the ranks of the insured, especially those whose parents don’t have access to private coverage and have not met low-income standards to qualify for the state-run Oregon Health Plan.

“We will, at long last, bring health care to every Oregon child,” Kulongoski said at a gathering of lobbyists, health care bureaucrats, politicians and even a young patient at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital on the campus of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Through a combination of increased “provider taxes” on most Oregon hospitals and a new 1 percent tax on health insurance premiums, Oregon is adding 200,000 uninsured children and poor adults to the ranks of the insured.

Combined, the two taxes will generate between $300 million and $400 million in the next two years, jumping to about $500 million in 2011-13. Hospitals eventually supported the tax, because it’s expected to be fully offset by new federal Medicaid dollars coming to Oregon by the jump in state health care spending. Insurance companies stopped short of supporting the plan, instead agreeing not to oppose it while warning that it would drive up health care costs for companies and individuals who pay for private insurance.

Kulongoski said Congress, in the midst of its own debate on overhauling health care coverage, could take a lesson from Oregon.

“Together we have set Oregon on the path to create a health care system that will be a model for the rest of the nation,” Kulongoski said.

The expansion of coverage will be phased in until it’s fully in place in January.

Dr. Bruce Goldberg, head of the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the program, encouraged all families without insurance for their children to register now, either online or by telephone. Those who aren’t immediately eligible under federal poverty level guidelines will be enrolled as soon as they are eligible, Goldberg said.