Tag: Medicaid

More than 200,000 People with Disabilities Lost Their Medi-Cal Coverage in June

In June 2023, more than 200,000 people lost their Medi-Cal coverage because they did not return the information that was needed to process their new applications. People who did not return their redetermination packet during the month of June have until the end of September 30, 2023, to get their coverage restored. We are still working on the final numbers of people who lost their Medi-Cal coverage in July, but we do know that more than 34,000 people in Los Angeles County alone lost their coverage. People who did not return their redetermination packet during the month of July have until October 31, 2023 to get their coverage restored.

More than 1 million Californians need to return their renewal packets in the month of August 2023 to keep their coverage in place. Make sure that you and anyone else that you care about who is a Medi-Cal recipient are keeping an eye out for a yellow envelope in the mail and noting what date you need to return all requested information to your Medi-Cal office to not lose your coverage. Watch this video to get step-by-step instructions on how to renew your Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid.

You can visit KeepMedi-CalCoverage.org to update your contact information, check your redetermination status, submit information, and find more help in your local area. 

The Arc of California Submits Comments on Major Proposed Medicaid Rule

In early May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency responsible for the oversight and regulation of Medicaid services, proposed a major new rule with the intent of ensuring access to home and community-based services.  According to CMS, the rule seeks to “increase transparency and accountability, standardize data and monitoring, and create opportunities for States to promote active beneficiary engagement in their Medicaid programs, with the goal of improving access to care.”  

In response to the proposed rule The Arc of California has submitted comments that uphold much of the intent of the rule but outlines major concerns with the implementation, specifically that the rule would require that a state ensure that at least 80 percent of all payments with respect to homemaker, home health aide, and personal care services be spent on compensation for direct care workers.  The 80% appears to be an arbitrary percentage selected by CMS and also conflicts with California’s recently enacted DDS rate models, which has used economic data to determine the percentage each service type should spend on the provider workforce.  

Click following link to view The Arc of CA Comments to Proposed Medicaid Access Rule 

Help People With Disabilities Keep Their Medi-Cal Coverage!

The Medi-Cal continuous coverage mandate will end on March 31, 2023. On April 1, county offices throughout California will restart eligibility renewals to determine if current recipients still qualify for free or low-cost Medi-Cal.

Individuals with disabilities are at an increased risk of losing or experiencing a gap in coverage due to upcoming changes in completing the renewal process.

The California Department of Health Care Services has created valuable resources that you can share with your stakeholders, community partners, family, and friends to help ensure that people with disabilities have access and the information needed to keep their Medi-Cal coverage.

Click HERE to view resource toolkit.

Medicaid and CHIP Provider Relief Fund Application has been extended to August 3

On June 9, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the distribution of approximately $15 billion from the Provider Relief Fund to eligible providers that participate in state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – Including regional center providers – and have not received a payment from the Provider Relief Fund General Distribution. The payment to each provider will be approximately 2 percent of reported gross revenue from services provided. The deadline was extended because only approximately 5% of eligible service providers had applied by the original deadline.

Initially there was confusion whether or not service providers that bill regional centers are eligible since they don’t bill Medicaid directly; however, the California Department of Health Care Services confirmed that a list of more than 17,000 providers of Regional Center services was submitted to CMS for eligibility.

A new FAQ with instructions for application is at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/provider-relief-fund-medicaid-chip-factsheet.pdf.

VIEW BY TOPIC