The state is now verifying Medicaid program eligibility, specifically the medi-cal coverage, and up to 2.8 million Californians could be removed from the rolls, according to officials. One of the most well-liked safety net programs in California is undergoing a significant shift.
More than 15 million Californians, or 40% of the state’s population, are registered in Medi-Cal, which provides free health insurance to those with low incomes.
Medi-Cal is the state’s version of Medicaid. But the Covid-19 pandemic-era federal health care safeguards came to an end in March, and this month California started checking the eligibility of people who are now enrolled in Medi-Cal.
It’s a laborious project that will likely last well into the following year. It might also have serious repercussions: between 1.8 million and 2.8 million Californians are anticipated to lose their insurance during the “unwinding,” according to state officials.
Even though some of them are still eligible, hundreds of thousands of people have already been expelled from Medicaid systems in other states.
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Medi-Cal Verification Process Creates Uncertainty for Californians
According to John Baackes, the CEO of L.A., the verification process “is going to be very bumpy.” Los Angeles County’s 2.7 million Medi-Cal enrollees are part of the public health plan Care.
There are 6,000 L.A. Since California started the process, care clients have lost their Medi-Cal coverage; according to Baackes, this number will rise to 350,000 by the end of 2024.
Medi-Cal is available to Californians who are unmarried and make $20,121 or less yearly; participants often need to re-establish their eligibility each year.
But in order to guarantee that people kept their health insurance during the epidemic, Congress suspended the income-verification requirement in March 2020.
States are starting to check eligibility for the first time in three years now that those protections are ended. According to federal estimates, 15 million Americans will drop off the Medicaid rolls.
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Source: www.nytimes.com