On May 1, California opened up Medi-Cal to older immigrants living in the state without legal permission.
Illegal immigrant 49+ People below certain income thresholds are now eligible for Medi-Cal comprehensive coverage under California’s version of Medicaid, a federal-state partnership that provides health coverage for low-income people.
Illegal immigrants of all ages account for 40% of the state about 3.2 million Residents without insurance.Official Estimates of Newly Eligible People up to 235,000. Applicants will join over 220,000 Unauthorized immigrants 25 and younger have registered for Medi-Cal.
If Gov. Gavin Newsom gets his way, considering the state’s optimistic financial outlookCalifornia could allow all remaining low-income illegal immigrants— An estimated 700,000 People – Join Medi-Cal by 2024 or earlier.
as i have explained earlier, Medi-Cal has some well-known problems. But it’s better than no insurance. Read on to learn about the new benefits and how to sign up if you’re eligible.
Under current law, all undocumented immigrants who meet financial criteria have access to limited Medi-Cal coverage, including emergency and pregnancy services, and, in some cases, long-term care.But when they sign up for full Medi-Cal, they get all covered This includes primary care, prescription drugs, mental health care, dental and eye care, eyewear, and more. It’s no small matter for people who go white.
“This is a critical moment when you want to include all these aging undocumented immigrants in health care,” said Arturo Vargas Bustamante, a professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. health care system.” If you leave their chronic disease unattended, they’ll just end up in the emergency room, and the treatment will be more expensive, he said.
He called it “a responsible way to invest.”
As Bustamante points out, this is no longer the case with immigrants coming to the U.S. for temporary work and then returning to their home countries. They stay in the country to support their families and grow old.Illegal immigration plays a big role in the workforce, pays estimates $3.2 billion California’s annual state and local taxes and the nation’s $11.7 billion. If they are too sick to work, no one benefits.
While it will take time to roll out new benefits, the task will become easier because the vast majority Unauthorized immigrants who would be eligible for comprehensive coverage have signed up for limited Medi-Cal benefits — so the state has their contact information.
Those already on limited Medi-Cal will be automatically upgraded to full range Medi-Cal. Assuming their contact details are up to date, they will receive a packet in the mail explaining their expanded benefits and prompting them to choose a health plan and primary care provider.
“We want to see people who are already enrolled in restricted Medi-Cal go into full Medi-Cal immediately,” said Ronald Coleman, managing director of policy for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, which promotes people of color. Community Health Access. “The question is: will they know their benefits and know how to navigate the system?”
Those who are not registered for restricted Medi-Cal may not be easily identified and may be difficult to persuade due to cultural and language barriers.
The Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal, is working with county officials, consumer advocates and state health insurance exchanges to cover california, to reach eligible immigrants.it has posted a notice Frequently Asked Questions multilingual.The agency has a “Senior Extensions” page on its website, available at English and Spanish.
Advocates have also been preparing. For example, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network is sponsoring legislation, AB 2680, which will provide $30 million to community groups for outreach and enrollment in underserved communities eligible for Medi-Cal. A similar program will expire in June. Separately, the network is seeking an additional $15 million for unauthorized adult immigrants, said Monika Lee, a spokeswoman for the group.
Even as advocates and health officials tout the new eligibility rules, they expect deep distrust from immigrants who clearly remember the Trump administration’s public charge rule, which has sparked fears that applying for public benefits could harm them immigration status can even lead to deportation. As the election looms, many fear those days are not entirely over.
“What advocates are trying to do on the ground is explain how county offices handle their information. It’s not shared with immigrants,” said Tiffany Huyenh-Cho, a senior attorney at the U.S. law firm. Aging Justice“We’re really trying to allay some of the concerns that people still have.”
Alina Arzola, a 64-year-old resident of Modesto, an illegal immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, said she was not afraid of immigration police. Another reason she was hesitant to join Medi-Cal: She worried that the quality of care wasn’t great.
“Financially, maybe it will help me,” she said. But she said she didn’t hear good news from her 87-year-old mother, a U.S. citizen and Medi-Cal enrollee. In December 2020, her mother underwent surgery to remove her cataract. It was all confirmed, Arzola recalls, but when her mom arrived, the doctor wasn’t there. He never showed up.
Arzola with diabetes St Luke’s Family Clinic, a clinic in Modesto that provides treatment for the uninsured for free. But the clinic doesn’t allow free care for people who can get affordable insurance — which means Arzola will soon be unable to go to the clinic, which she deeply regrets.
So she’ll likely bite the bullet and sign up for Medi-Cal.
“I’m sure I’d be inconvenient without medical care,” Arzola said, “so I had no choice.”
The Department of Health Care Services and other resources can help you or a loved one learn about new Medi-Cal benefits for older immigrants, including how to enroll and choose a health plan and provider.
Healthy Consumers Coalition (888-804-3536 or www.healthconsumer.org) offers free consultation and has offices across the state.it also has a Fact Sheet — Available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and many other languages — which explains why Medi-Cal is expanding to seniors. It provides registered contact information, whether through your county welfare office, Covered California, or your local community clinic.
Health California Latino Coalition (916-448-3234 or www.lchc.org) provided a Toolkit As well as fact sheets in English and Spanish.Advocacy groups Health Access and the California Immigration Policy Center English and Spanish.
This story is made by KHNrelease California Healthlineeditorial independent service California Healthcare Foundation.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that provides in-depth news coverage on health issues.Along with policy analysis and polling, KHN is one of the top three operating programs in the U.S. KFC (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is a donating non-profit organization that provides information on health issues to the state.
Photo: turk_stock_photographer, Getty Images
