Thread: California works to enact new Medi-Cal ID process

And California hopes to AVOID declines in Medi-Cal enrollment. To us taxpayers that seems like a misnomer doesn't it? Bottom line....somewhere things got twisted and people who couldn't pay became profitable.

State works to enact new Medi-Cal ID process
By Barbara Anderson / The Fresno Bee
03/13/07 03:26:28

California hopes to avoid declines in Medi-Cal enrollment when it begins asking people for documents to prove identity and U.S. citizenship to receive medical benefits, state and county officials say.

Citizenship already has been verified for half of the state's 3.5 million Medi-Cal enrollees affected by the new proof-of-citizenship rule.

And California officials are working with counties to make enforcement of the federal law the least disruptive for the public, said Julie Hornback, director of employment and temporary assistance and adult services for Fresno County.

Thus far, seven states that have implemented the law -- Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia -- have reported declines in Medicaid enrollments since requiring citizenship documentation under the 2006 Budget Reduction Act, according to The New York Times.

Medi-Cal, with 6.7 million enrollees statewide, is California's version of Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health insurance to the poor, aged, blind and people with disabilities.

The 2006 law says people applying for benefits or renewing eligibility need birth certificates, passports or other identifying documents to enroll in the government health-insurance program.

Before the new law, California asked for Social Security numbers for full Medi-Cal benefits and applicants declared their citizenship by signing a document under penalty of perjury.

California has delayed writing instructions for implementing the 2006 regulations to give counties time to voice concerns or comments, said Norma Arceo, a spokeswoman at the California Department of Health Services.

In the meantime, the state used an electronic database of birth certificates to verify citizenship for 1.6 million of the 3.5 million Medi-Cal enrollees affected by the new law, she said.

The cost of enforcing the law falls to the state, which pays counties for determining eligibility. The state has yet to decide on a startup date for implementing the law, Arceo said.
The reporter can be reached at banderson@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6310.

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-print...ory/34944.html

We already demand docs in CO, have since last summer, and the medicaid rolls are down. There was an article somewhere on that I'll try to find.