Enrollment in Riverside Co.’s Health Plan for the Uninsured Nears 3,000

Riverside County officials recently said they already have enrolled 2,700 residents from about 16,000 applications for the new Riverside County HealthCare insurance plan for low-income, uninsured residents who do not qualify for Medi-Cal, HealthyCal reports.

Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.

Program Details

RCHC -- which launched in January -- was designed to align with care expansion provisions in the federal health reform law (Urevich, HealthyCal, 2/13).

Under the program, beneficiaries will be assigned to public health clinics in an effort to emphasize primary and preventive care and reduce more expensive specialist and emergency department visits.

More than 20,000 low-income residents are expected to apply for the program, which has received state and federal approval. The federal government will cover 50% of the cost of the program (California Healthline, 12/16/2011).

HealthyCal reports that RCHC must provide urgent primary care appointments to participants within 48 to 96 hours of their request.

Jan Remm -- assistant administrator of Riverside County Regional Medical Center -- said RCHC also must provide appointments with specialists within 30 days of a request being made.

Remm added that county officials are negotiating with pharmacies to make prescriptions more accessible to people living far from the city of Riverside (HealthyCal, 2/13).