“California Makes It Easier for Low-Income Residents to Get and Keep Free Health Coverage”

California Makes It Easier for Low-Income Residents to Get and Keep Free Health Coverage,” by Rachel Bluth, Kaiser Health News


Quote:

“A provision in California’s newly approved state budget will eliminate the asset test for the 2 million Californians enrolled in both Medi-Cal and Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older and people under 65 with certain disabilities. Instead, their financial eligibility will be based solely on income, as it is for the millions of other people in Medi-Cal. … The 2021-22 state budget deal includes several provisions that will make it easier to get on and stay on Medi-Cal, including the elimination of the asset test. Everyone 50 and over will be eligible, regardless of immigration status. And new mothers will be allowed to remain on Medi-Cal for one year after giving birth, up from 60 days.”

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

The “Medicaid trap” snaps shut in California ensnaring more and more people in public welfare dependency. As federal taxpayers you get to pay half this cost because of the Golden State’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) of 50 percent. Do you think the federal government will intervene? Forget it. California has thumbed its nose at the Feds with impunity for decades by failing to implement key long-term care eligibility restrictions imposed on all states in OBRA ’93 and DRA ’05. Now the People’s Republic is eliminating all pretense of personal responsibility and embracing moral hazard completely.