Let’s start with some good news (because everything is relative): The backlog of Medi-Cal applications that I called “monumental” last month is now merely “massive.”
About 600,000 people – some of whom applied last year – are still waiting for their Medi-Cal applications to be processed, down from 900,000 previously, state officials report.
The bad news is that despite this troublesome, long-standing backlog, the state is about to create another one by asking 8.5 million current Medi-Cal members to renew their status using new forms, new eligibility criteria and new ways of defining income.
Their renewal forms will be met by the same overwhelmed county workers who are processing the backlogged first-time Medi-Cal applications, the same computer glitches that have contributed to the application backlog and the same dearth of help for desperate consumers.
“We’ll work these renewals as quickly as we possibly can, but we only have so many people and so many hours in the day and a computer system that works only so well,” says Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California.
County social service agencies process Medi-Cal applications and renewals.
“The state’s direction to the counties is basically, ‘Do your best’,” he says.
Some advocates believe that state officials want Californians to drop out of the program during the renewal process, saving the state money.
“People will be falling off of Medi-Cal” as a result of the renewals, says Jen Flory, senior attorney for the Western Center on Law & Poverty.
But state health officials do “not believe that more people than usual could lose Medi-Cal coverage,” says Tony Cava of the state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
Q: I just received my Medi-Cal renewal packet, due by July 31. I imagine the renewals are just as backlogged?
They will be soon if they’re not already.
A quick refresher: Medi-Cal is the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program, which provides publicly funded insurance to low-income residents. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medi-Cal eligibility to childless adults and those with higher incomes than before.
The response has been overwhelming. More people signed up for Medi-Cal than purchased private health plans through the state’s health insurance exchange, Covered California, and applications continue to pour in.
By next year, Medi-Cal is expected to provide health insurance to about 11.5 million Californians – a whopping 30 percent of the state’s population.
The expansion has been plagued with problems, including the inability of the state computer system to communicate with county systems for months, programming defects that continue to delay applications and that massive backlog I mentioned earlier.
That’s just for first-time applications. Renewals are conducted annually to reassess people’s eligibility for the program.
The state started sending out renewal notices in April despite the existing application backlog, Cava says.
Millions of Californians already have received them and advocates point to a series of potential complications and questionable decisions that could make the process painful:
- The California Endowment has given the state $26 million (which was matched by the federal government) to help enroll Californians in the expanded Medi-Cal program.
The private foundation also offered $6 million to provide assistance to people who need to renew. The gift was no-strings-attached and also was expected to be matched by the federal government.
No brainer, right?
The state declined the offer.
- The renewal forms are new and rely heavily on consumers’ tax data because of Medi-Cal’s new eligibility criteria. “These forms are … incredibly confusing,” says Kristen Golden Testa, health director of The Children’s Partnership. “It’s a new type of renewal.”
The form has not even been finalized, according to a letter written by DHCS Director Toby Douglas in June: “The form that is currently being used, while legally sufficient, is not the form that we have all been working toward perfecting for future use.”
Nor has this form been translated into other languages, as previous renewal forms were.
“People tend not to respond to things they don’t understand,” Flory says.
- Consumers already are returning renewal forms to their counties. But the state hasn’t told counties how to process them. “If they (Medi-Cal beneficiaries) have responded, nothing has been happening to those forms,” Mecca says.
In fact, he adds, glitches in the state’s computerized eligibility system have made it impossible for renewals to be processed.
The stakes are high.
The state already has informed counties how to dump Medi-Cal members who haven’t returned their forms within the 60-day deadline, Mecca says.
That means counties can kick you off the rolls if you don’t respond in time, but can’t yet renew you if you have. (Until the county processes your renewal form, however, you remain covered.)
So, if you have received a renewal packet in the mail, please don’t ignore it. “Do anything you can to get the form in,” Flory says.
In fairness, getting the right people off the rolls is important. Medi-Cal recipients may have moved to a different county or out of state or – gulp – died. Removing them saves money.
It’s the people who should be on the rolls that advocates worry about.
Here’s where to turn for help:
- State and county officials urge you to call or visit your county social services office. Good luck with that. Some Ask Emily readers report difficulties getting through by phone or in person.
- If you have a baby or otherwise need to add someone in your family to Medi-Cal, don’t wait for a renewal form. Go to your county offices and get help. (Ditto the skepticism above.)
- Try calling 2-1-1, which hooks people up with human services agencies, and ask for referrals to groups that assist Medi-Cal recipients.
- Contact the Health Consumer Alliance (healthconsumer.org) and 888-804-3536), which offers programs across the state.
A final note: State lawmakers who were unhappy that the administration didn’t accept the $6 million from The California Endowment are pushing a bill that would require the state to accept the money. Stay tuned.
Provided by the Center for Health Reporting at the University of Southern California.