More than 15 million residents, approximately 40 percent of Californians, are left without Medi-Cal, losing their free or low-cost health coverage for not renewing, a process that faces problems with language, access to information and difficulty in contacting interested parties, showing an unfavorable scenario that would leave millions of people without medical protection.
The state health insurance program Medi-Cal, generally The plan reviews the eligibility of members every year, but that process was stopped during the pandemic by order of the federal government. However, it was resumed in the spring, asking people to renew their applications to continue with their medical service, with a period of 90 days starting on July 1.
Most of those who lost their Medi-Cal did so because they did not renew even if they were candidates for the service, with misinformation being the most worrying problem. In light of this, Ethnic Media Services organized a press conference with staff from California Department of Health Services and covered california, as well as some organizations involved, with the aim of supporting people who have not yet renewed.
Yingjia Huang, deputy director of health benefits and eligibility at the Department of Health Services, talked about the measures being taken to support those who need to renew their application.
In this regard, he explained that in California 21 percent of the default members have disaffiliated, because they have not returned the yellow envelope package that they are sent. There are already approximately 225 thousand people who have not renewed, but they have until September 30 to send the envelope and process their renewal without problems.
Those who can no longer renew have some alternatives so that they do not run out of their Medi-Cal service. There are options for the whole family and there are agreements with educational centers that facilitate access to this service.
«If you lost coverage in June, you still have 90 days to be reinstated and you have to return the package, please look for the package, we will talk to you, also check your email, we are calling you. We are waiting the remaining months for the cancellation process, while we look for a way for our members not to be left without coverage, we are doing everything we can, we continue to work with our community partners to make this happen.", he said Yingjia Huang expressed concern for people who have not yet submitted their documents.
Jessica Altman, CEO of Covered California, explained the process and the support available to help all communities renew their coverage.
Coverage depends on a number of things, such as a person's employment and income, which is why options are sought for people who want to keep their Medi-Cal, such as support to cover payments and make them lower, or even keep them for free.
Most of those losing Medi-Cal are covered by Covered California, and a third of them found they will pay nothing each month, while 90 percent of people pay $10 or less for their health insurance, thanks to a new program.
The transition from Medi-Cal to Covered California is intended to be easy, but the reality is that there are many problems. Contact must be made with those who do not speak English and support must be provided for different languages. Support is also available on various digital platforms that are available in a few languages and do not take dialects into account so that everyone has access to this information.
«We want all communities to know that we will continue to support everyone, we want everyone to receive information, no matter their language or their situation, so that they have access to the information they need for this process and thus receive all the help.", he pointed out.
Louise McCarthy, CEO of the Community Clinic Association of LA County, explained that her work and the coalition of centers in Los Angeles County are important to the community, with 113 organizations across the county, 400 offices serving 1.89 million people in the city, 60 percent of whom are on Medi-Cal.
Health centres are working to help their patients in every way possible, implementing different ways of reaching out to the community to provide them with information and support them in their renewal process.
This situation is of utmost importance, as there are people who are undergoing treatment for dangerous diseases that cannot be stopped, and losing their membership would put their lives at risk.
«There is a new resource: an additional $60 million to the budget that will support membership in nonprofit organizations. The state wants to distribute that quickly to help organizations and the community, because our vision is for our patients to keep the medical access they already have.", he commented
Rosario Arreola Pro, chief operating officer of the California Rural Indian Health Board, which represents 19 tribal clinics and 59 tribes across California, noted that 30 to 60 percent of patients in tribes are Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
Many people who belong to these groups need medical services, from mental health to dental or specialized services, but now during the determination process, it is estimated that 1 in 5 beneficiaries will lose their service due to changes in jobs or simply for not renewing.
«We are sending messages, we have people in the field, we also have community health workers, including people who send their documents due to lack of time, but we are depending on the registration at the clinic.", he shared Rosario Arreola faced with the worrying situation of not being able to help more people without documentation.
Dr. Seciah Aquino of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California shared her vision with the organization that represents more than 40 percent of the California population, which is around 16 million Latinos.
According to the data shared, of the people who have been discharged, 52.5 percent are Latino, approximately 117,849 people, so Medi-Cal is a way to provide security and it is very important that the community is registered.
«It has been important for us to communicate these logistics, because many know what we are talking about, but do not know how to carry out their procedures or how to make it possible.", he said.
For associations, communication has been key in recent months. They seek to be heard through text messages, emails, letters to their homes and in a personal way with direct contact.
«I come from a public health background, and from that perspective we need to think about systems that will keep people covered. We have seen that at the federal level the support was to keep these people covered through complete systems, in reality, this is an investment, not only in our health but in our economy, when we keep people healthy, we keep our economy healthy.», he stated.
For Mayra Alvarez, president of Children's Partnership, children will be among the most affected sectors if Medi-Cal is lost: 15 million people have this insurance, but 60 percent of children in California are covered by it and, of those, approximately 70 percent are children of color, so keeping the service available is a priority.
During this process, it is estimated that 2.3 million people could lose coverage, so people must first be understood in order to then be able to help them in their process. Only in this way will it be possible to combat those barriers that prevent people from maintaining their health coverage.
«We are here to make sure that you as our partners do not lose communication with our families, we can give you the information so you do not lose your medical service.».
The time is now, do not miss your medical service, at some point you will regret it, go to any of the options that offer full support and do not let more time pass.
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