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Cárdenas: Extend Medi-Cal Deadlines to Protect 200,000 L.A. Residents

Press Release

Date: Nov. 24, 2014
Location: San Fernando Valley, CA
Issues: Health Insurance

Following reports in the media indicating that hundreds of thousands of L.A. County residents could lose Medi-Cal benefits due to a government error, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-San Fernando Valley) called on the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) to extend Medi-Cal renewal deadlines for those affected.

"With less time to process the renewal and without sufficient English comprehension, many families did not realize the steps necessary to renewing their Medi-Cal coverage," Cárdenas said in his letter to CDHS Director Toby Douglas. "This is unacceptable."

While 22 percent of Medi-Cal customers have a primary language other than English, and Medi-Cal documents are required by law to be fully accessible by the public, CDHS sent English-only renewal documents to five million customers statewide, six months later than normal. Because of translation issues and the delay in mailing, 200,000 L.A. County residents may lose coverage.

"Millions of Californian families are at risk of losing the only insurance they can afford," Cárdenas said Monday. "Many are hard workers who are simply trying to grow their families and make our state a better place. We cannot fail them by letting this massive headache drop on them. They deserve reprieve from a mistake made by those paid to work for the people of our state."

"I urge you to extend the deadline for renewals of Medi-Cal for those families already enrolled and to disseminate language-sensitive information regarding the renewal process to those families in danger of cancellation," the letter continued. "It is of the utmost importance to ensure universal accessibility to health care."

An article in the Los Angeles Daily News indicates that, previously, forms "all were available in the state's primary languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hmong, Cambodian, Arabic and Farsi."

CDHS is urging those who lose Medi-Cal coverage to call a local legal aid program at 888-804-3536.


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