In April 2004, community leaders and partners concerned with the growing number of children without access to comprehensive health care insurance established the Children’s Health Initiative of San Luis Obispo County (CHISLO).

CHISLO Mission:
To provide a one-step application process to ensure that every eligible child is enrolled in a health care coverage plan through existing state funded insurance programs (Medi-Cal and Healthy Families) and to provide Healthy Kids - a comprehensive health insurance product to serve families who do not qualify for state health insurance programs.

CHISLO Vision:
Every child in San Luis Obispo County will have quality healthcare coverage.

Why Health Insurance?

When parents can’t afford health insurance, they skip preventive care visits for their children, forgo care for acute/chronic conditions, and only seek care, in emergency rooms or inpatient settings. Consumers and taxpayers face unnecessary costs to pay for the emergency room care. Employers lose worker productivity from absent parents tending to their kids.

What difference does insurance make?

Studies find that uninsured kids:

• Are twice as likely as insured kids to forgo a doctor’s visit in a 12-month period and five times as likely to use the emergency room as a regular source of care.

• Have a one and a half times higher death rate than insured children.

• Are almost twice as likely as insured kids to forgo care for chronic illnesses.

SUCCESS STORIES