Latest California Healthline Stories
Mixed Bag So Far for Duals Program: Some Glad, Some Livid, Most Confused
UCLA researcher Kathryn Kietzman, Kevin Prindiville of the National Senior Citizens Law Center, dual-eligible beneficiary Maria Salim and her daughter Teresa Strauss of Los Angeles and Norman Williams of the Department of Health Care Services spoke with California Healthline about the progress and concerns over the Cal MediConnect duals demonstration program, which now is about halfway through its enrollment process.
State Files Autism Benefit Plan to CMS
A state plan amendment submitted to federal officials last week lays out some of the rules to establish autism therapy coverage as a Medi-Cal benefit — including one change advocates particularly wanted.
Poll: Most Californians Favor Coverage for Undocumented, Low Income
Californians believe that undocumented immigrants and low-income residents should get access to preventive health care coverage, according to a new California Endowment poll.
Duals Project Sign-Ups Hit Halfway Mark
If current opt-out percentages hold true throughout the signup process in California’s duals demonstration project, the state will end up with about 300,000 participants.
Providers Point to ‘Crisis’ in Dental Care for Some Medi-Cal Patients
Some special-needs patients — including children with autism or developmental disabilities — need to undergo sedation to get dental care. But the number of hospital settings for those procedures in California is declining, and a showdown of sorts has developed around Medi-Cal coverage for such services in the Sacramento area.
How To Pay for Health for All?
We asked legislators and consumer advocates to weigh in on a proposal to offer subsidized health care coverage to California’s undocumented immigrants and to suggest ways the state could pay for it.
Medi-Cal Application Backlog Will Be ‘Down Significantly’ Within Six Weeks
Toby Douglas, director of the state Department of Health Care Services, answered a range of Medi-Cal questions at an Assembly hearing yesterday, including when the current backlog of a quarter-million eligibility applications will be processed.
New Law To Shorten Medi-Cal Application Process for Community Clinic Startups
Primary care clinics that want to take Medi-Cal patients won’t have to wait as long to get started, under a bill just signed by the governor.
Governor Overrules DHCS, Signs Law Creating Children’s Advisory Panel
The Department of Health Care Services may not want it, but the governor has agreed to order the creation of the Medi-Cal Children’s Health Advisory Panel.
States that were initially hesitant to expand Medicaid eligibility now are exploring alternative coverage plans, but there are implications to increasing coverage without state-to-state parity.