Posted April 4, Updated April 13
As explained in this article on our DSS website, the annual eligibility redetermination for Medi-Cal, which was suspended during the declared COVID public health emergency, is now resuming. Medi-Cal clients need to be sure we have their current contact information, and respond if they receive redetermination paperwork in the mail.
In addition to state and DSS communications directly to clients, CenCal has issued a press release.
https://www.noozhawk.com/central-coast-medi-cal-recipients-urged-to-reconfirm-eligibility/
The Independent ran an article showing up to 3 million Californians could lose their Medi-Cal coverage by not receiving or responding to the annual questionnaire:
This video interview was carried on the SB/SLO news channel:
https://keyt.com/health/2023/05/26/medical-reviews-resume-after-3-year-pause/
SLO County Medi-Cal navigator Karl Beck noted changes including:
- Yearly reviews are resuming after 3 years starting with June, so if you moved and didn't report your address change, your review could go to the wrong address and you could lose your Medi-Cal benefits. So make sure we have your correct address. Go to keepmedicalcoverage.org and click on the links or call 866-404-4007. If your MediCal stops, you might not know until you're in the hospital or doctor's office, and that's not the time to find out.
- The age to qualify for some Medi-Cal programs has been lowered from 65 to 50, and the programs can now cover people over 50 who are undocumented.
- The age to age-out of some Medi-Cal programs has been raised from 18 to 25
- The asset limit for some Medi-Cal programs requiring an asset test has been raised from $2000 (excluding house and car) to $130,000/
- Since 2020, children can be eligible even if undocumented, up to the age of 25.
- You still must be under 138% of FPL.
- In short, Medi-Cal now covers a lot of people who used to go uninsured -- ending up at the emergency room, unable to pay the bill afterward, with those bills getting picked up by higher cost for everyone else, raising insurance cost for everyone else.
