Millions of California residents are at risk of losing health care due to simple paperwork errors, but a new bill aimed at safeguarding provision was put on hold by an Assembly Appropriations committee this week.
Assembly member Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas) introduced the Protecting Medi-Cal Coverage for Californians Act (AB 2956) to protect adults enrolled in Medicaid, and vowed to keep fighting for it.
"It is unconscionable to think that over a million people each year are not able to get the care that they need due to something as simple as missing a single piece of paper," said Boerner.
The act would prevent coverage from being denied for a full year after the federal unwinding period went into effect, and would also make renewal flexibilities permanent.
Currently, California and several other states are seeing millions of Americans wrongfully removed from Medicaid for purely procedural reasons. The U.S. ended its continuous enrollment rules in April after the pandemic and now mistakes such as missing deadlines or having an out-of-date address can result in lost health care coverage.
In California, the change in policy has led more than 1.6 million to lose coverage, and the state says half those missing out are Latinos.
"The bill is aimed at solving what was the most prevalent problem with Medi-Cal last year, paperwork," Alex Beene, financial literacy instructor for the state of Tennessee, told Newsweek.
"While filling out information on a form for coverage may sound like a given, the issue was that this was the first time many had to formally go through the process since the pandemic, and undoubtedly quite a few were confused by some questions asked or just negated to complete the paperwork altogether."
Altogether, 80 percent of the Medi-Cal cancellations were due to paperwork problems.
"What it actually means is that the person was disenrolled because the county didn't have enough information to determine whether the person was still eligible," Louise Norris, health policy analyst for healthinsurance.org, told Newsweek.
"A renewal packet was sent to the person but they either didn't receive it, didn't understand it, or didn't complete it for some reason."
This indicates that many who are still eligible are now going without the government-provided health insurance.
"I am disappointed that AB 2956, a bill that would have helped many Californians retain health coverage, did not get the necessary approval to move forward. I remain committed to ensuring that those eligible for Medi-Cal are not routinely disenrolled due to bureaucratic red tape," Boerner added.
Mayra E. Alvarez, the president of the Children's Partnership, which co-sponsored the bill, said children are especially at risk of losing coverage due to submitted renewal forms not being received and long call wait times to get questions answered.
"Even relatively short gaps in Medi-Cal coverage can mean the difference between getting the timely early developmental intervention that growing children and their families need to lead healthy lives and falling dangerously behind in healthy childhood development," Alvarez said.
"Putting families' coverage in jeopardy, especially our Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities that are more likely to rely on Medi-Cal for coverage, exacerbates existing racial disparities and undermines Californians' investments in coverage for all."
Seciah Aquino, the executive director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, called the legislation an "intentional fight for justice" that will not be thwarted, causing the health of Latinos especially to suffer.
"The health of Latinos is in a fragile state: our community is still facing acute cases of COVID-19, long-COVID and the socio-economic repercussions of the pandemic," Aquino said in a statement. "This means that now more than ever, Medi-Cal coverage is essential to our well-being."
Beene added that some of California's most vulnerable citizens are the hardest hit by the bill getting halted.
"It's difficult to see the state government reversing course on this issue, as paperwork and procedure normally win out," Beene said. "However, Californians who need coverage need to seek out assistance this year in making sure they correctly complete all forms associated with Medi-Cal. If they need the coverage, they don't want to be left out for a second year in a row."