Last Updated: December 15, 2004, 06:38:55 AM PST

The number of children without health insurance dropped in Stanislaus County between 2001 and 2003, but went up in Merced and San Joaquin counties, according to a new study released Tuesday.

The report by the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California at Los Angeles showed a decline in the number of uninsured children statewide, from 1.5 million in 2001 to 1.1 million in 2003.

In Stanislaus County, 18,000 children were not covered by insurance last year, down from 23,000 in 2001, the report said. About 11 percent of county residents 18years and under still have no coverage.

Almost 17 percent of children in San Joaquin County and 19 percent in Merced County were uninsured as of last year, which were significant increases compared with the 2001 data.

Children without coverage do not see a doctor regularly, fare worse in school and often are treated in emergency rooms, the researchers said.

Shana Lavarreda, senior researcher and project manager for the study, said Merced County showed a 20 percent drop in children insured through a parent's employer-provided health plan.

Statewide, employment-based coverage for children fell 4 percent from 2001. "It is a problem with employers dropping coverage," Lavarreda said.

The report concluded that Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, the state's insurance program for the working poor, were effective in covering children dropped from employment-based insurance. Medi-Cal and Healthy Families coverage of children increased 5.2 percentage points statewide between 2001 and 2003, the report says.

The figures come from the California Health Interview Survey. About 44,000 took part in the telephone interviews for 2003.

E. Richard Brown, center director, said the drop in uninsured children was good news, but more needs to be done.

The report's release came as a bipartisan coalition of teachers, business leaders, clergy, health care advocates and labor representatives launched a campaign to provide affordable health insurance for every child in the state by 2007.

Congregations Building Communities of Modesto is involved in the campaign. Its member churches provide insurance application help to families after worship services.

"I know there are lot of people who are not enrolled and are eligible," said Tracye Bishop, CBC director. "Many don't speak English, and then they fill out the application wrongly, and it gets kicked back and they are denied."

The UCLA report prompted Stanislaus County to tout the success of its outreach efforts to get children enrolled in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.

Jeanie Miller, an executive vice president with United Way and member of a Healthy Families task force, said nonprofit agencies kept helping families apply and stay enrolled, even after the state cut off reimbursements for that service.

"We were never in it for the reimbursements," she said.

Children, from infants to 5 years of age, and pregnant women can be covered through the county's Healthy Cubs program while their parents apply for public insurance. About 3,500 children and 1,370 pregnant women have received benefits through the tobacco-tax funded program since it began in January 2003, officials said.

But it's a temporary solution.

"As the children hit 6 years, they drop off and those families are going to need health coverage," said Maria Blanco, administrator of county indigent services.

John Volanti, Merced County public health director, said he believes that language barriers hamper the telephone survey in getting an accurate count of the county's uninsured. He said the number likely is higher.

"We have found in this county that there are a high number of people eligible, but they are not enrolled for one reason or another," he said.

David Hurst, spokesman for the Health Plan of San Joaquin, has questioned whether the health survey accurately counts migrant children.

He said the county-based agency contracts with six community groups to get families enrolled in public health insurance and has a waiting list for its Healthy Kids program — for children up to 18 years. A grant should help add 400 more children.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at 578-2321 or kcarlson@modbee.com