California voters have eliminated a plan to keep insured children and can now be too late to allow it

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Each year, nearly 400,000 children who have medical insurance Medi-Cal They lose coverage for a while and then register again. Often, they are still entitled to subsidized medical care with public funds, but they are expelled due to administrative errors or loss of documentation. Sometimes their families do not reach the income limit for several hundred dollars in a few months.

Children’s rights defenders claim that this is a problem as early childhood leads to a series of vital health controls, vaccines and developmental evaluations. Without them, children risk standing behind the development of language and social behavior or not being diagnosed with diseases on time.

California tried to close this difference in the coverage in last year’s budget but a November Voting Initiative He deleted this investment, even when he improves payments of doctors, clinics and hospitals who visit low -income households.

Now the children’s defenders are asking governor Gavin Newo to try to provide money again so that all low-income children remain in Medi-Cal without renewal requirements for up to 5 years, but admit it may be too late.

The Federal Government must approve that California spends the dollars of Medi-Cal in this way, but the Trump administration executive order on the federal costs and the attempt to freeze funding shows the intention to make Deep cuts of various social security programsS

However, defenders say they are moving forward with their request for Newsom.

“This is a clear opportunity to deal with the system barriers that interfere with access to Medi-Cal,” says Meira Alvarez, President of the Partnership, the organization that runs the application for funding.

At the state level, approximately 56% of all children depend on Medi-Cal insurance.

Last year, in the midst of a multimillionaire deficit, Newsom and State legislators agreed a difficult year, a special medical insurance tax that helps to finance Medi-Cal.

But the bill This Newsom signed He had a trap: she predicted that if the voters approved an electoral measure to invest the main legislators in the state budget.

The election measure was approved with a prevailing 68% of the vote.

Proponents argued and voters agreed that nearly $ 7,000 million, raised annually by a medical insurance tax, should be used to support the extensive and frequently overloaded public security program. Proponents say wage increases will encourage more doctors and clinics to admit patients with Medi-Cal.

This time, the defenders are less sure that the state can spend money on continuous coverage for children, even if legislators agree to fund it.

The first budget discussions in Congress indicate that the government controlled by the Republican Party significantly reduce the cost of MedicaidS Medi-Cal is the California version of the Federal Medicaid program.

California cannot progress alone in changing Medi-Cal

California will need to be exempted from the Trump administration to use the money from the health insurance tax in the way the defenders want.

“Our plan as a coalition is to continue to progress and ask for the funds to be appointed and the release is presented,” said Courtney Armstrong, director of governmental issues of the CRAC 5 Association in California. “I do not know what is the likelihood that release is approved or not. Obviously, this happens in the context of major threats to Medicaid. It is possible (the Trump administration) that it is ready to accept the argument that children should have access to health coverage. “

Defenders had pressed the state last year to apply for a dismissal to invest in the program before President Joe Biden left office, but the Ministry of Medical Services stopped investigating the issue after the electoral measure was approved in November.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Medical Services, without funding, the request for release can no longer be continued.

“The approval of a proposal 35 leaves the continuous coverage for children up to 4 years old,” as permitted by legislators last year, the medical services said.

The children receiving Medi-Cal are vulnerable

Suppliers who visit patients with Medi-Cal say that preventing children from losing medical insurance is vital in their early years. Children need regular pediatric controls and monitoring care. When they lose, even temporarily, doctors and insurers also lose the opportunity to monitor and make sure they receive services on time and critical checkpoints are not missed.

“This is, without a doubt, the most vulnerable population we visit,” says Michael Hun, CEO of Calotima Health, the largest media regulated plan in Orange County. “We appreciate and strongly recommend this continuous coverage, so it means to determine the health trajectory per person from childhood.”

Calotima serves nearly 74,000 children from 0 to 5 years old and covers about 6,000 births each year, Hun said.

“What bothers me most about this change in continuous admissibility is that parents will have to choose between the medical care and rent of the child and the food of their child. This is a very difficult situation in which to put a family”, ” Hun said.

For several years, during the federal emergency situation for Covid-19, eligibility checks were stopped nationwide. During this time the percentage of Children who entered and left Medi-Cal In one year, 7.5 % to 1 % are reduced, according to the childhood partnership, the group that runs the budget application. When the federal emergency situation is over, the tariffs increased again.

“It has already been known that this type of policy can prevent any child between the ages of 0 and 5 years from losing their attention,” says Alvarez de Detlas’s partnership.

One of the most common reasons why people lose the Medi-Cal coverage is that their income exceeds $ 200, sometimes even less than $ 100, said Georgina Maldonado, CEO of the Community Health Initiative of the Community Health Initiative Orange county, non-profit organization that helps people want Medi-Cal and other social services.

“The federation poverty graph is not realistic for those who reside in California,” Maldonado said.

This note is made with the support of the California Foundation for Health (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the right attention when they already need a price they can pay. Visit www.chcf.org For more information.

This article was originally published by CalmattersS