Governor Supports Medi-Cal Managed Care Enrollment
The administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) "never 'dropped' the idea of mandatory enrollment" of some Medi-Cal beneficiaries in managed care programs, Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Kim Belshé writes in a Sacramento Bee letter to the editor responding to a July 19 article on Medi-Cal.
Belshé writes that the administration remains "supportive of managed care for seniors and people with disabilities," noting that the governor in January proposed "a compromise plan, including voluntary enrollment efforts and a pilot test of mandatory enrollment." The Legislature in September 2005 rejected a proposal to shift some Medi-Cal beneficiaries to managed care plans under a provision of a federal Medicaid agreement that resulted in the forfeiture of $360 million in federal funds, according to Belshé.
Schwarzenegger's signing of a bill (SB 1448) to expand health insurance coverage to uninsured residents "is relevant today," while the compromise proposal on Medi-Cal managed care enrollment that the Bee article focused on "was news six months ago," Belshé writes (Belshé, Sacramento Bee, 7/25).