More California Counties Set To Expand Coverage in January
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By Anthony Wright
Health Access California
Over 35 California counties will be expanding health coverage to tens of thousands of Californians on January 1, under new federal approval granted yesterday.
Ten large urban counties had already launched health expansions in July 2011. Just-released data show that now over 225,000 Californians are enrolled in these county-based Low-Income Health Programs (LIHPs), which are matched by new federal funds under the Affordable Care Act, and the state's new "bridge to reform" Medicaid waiver.
Now, the County Medical Services Program (CMSP), a consortia of 34 mostly rural counties, got federal approval to expand health care coverage to an additional 30,000 low income adults beginning January 1, 2012 under Path2Health. This coverage expansion will increase the number of low income adults served by CMSP to nearly 90,000 by the end of 2013.
These new county-based programs extend coverage to the uninsured using new federal matching funds, bringing dollars into local health systems and the California economy. These programs are a bridge to reform--helping our health system get ready for reform, linking uninsured people with a medical home, and helping every enrolled Californian get onto fully federally-funded coverage in January 2014.
With this CMSP announcement about Path2Health, now over 45 counties will have Low-Income Health Progams up and running on January 1, 2012. with most of the remaining counties going forward in early 2012. Potentially over a half-million Californians could get coverage through these LIHPs by 2014, when they are rolled into coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Path2Health will provide no-cost health coverage to adult Californians who reside in the 34 counties and are at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $10,890 annually for a single person.
Path2Health will provide coverage for medically necessary health care services, including primary care, emergency and hospital care, pharmacy services, and limited dental and vision care. It will also cover a set number of mental health and substance abuse counseling visits. Coverage will generally follow coverage provided under CMSP, a long-standing health coverage program serving indigent adults in the 34 counties. CMSP currently serves more than 60,000 low income adults each month.
Californians qualify for Path2Health if they are: a resident of one of the 34 counties Path2Health serves, have an income of up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, are between 19 and 64 years of age, do not qualify for Medi-Cal, and meet federal citizenship and documentation requirements. More information about Path2Health is available at http://mypath2health.org.
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Anthony Wright is Executive Director of Health Access California, a statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition of over 200 groups.
We can't afford so much money to cover low-income people. They should get their health care at public hospitals or clinics. Under the new provisions, many low-income people have better and more generous coverage than working middle-class people.
I know why you use "anonymous" in your comments...because you make the same idiotic comments over and over again. We spend hardly anything on helping the poor in this country, particularly the sick and poor...and to say they have it better than the middle class is both ignorant, and frankly sick. The poor do us clinics...all the time. And, by providing health care, at least in some form, WE SAVE MONEY on the back end due to all the emergency room costs we all pay for when those without any coverage are forced to be saved.
The fact is, health care is a human necessity, and a human right. We should have Medicare for all...even for sick, sociopaths like yourself. There's a reason in America we spend twice what any other country in the world does on health care with far worse results: we have a private, FOR PROFIT, health care system that puts a dollar sign on peoples lives and health, rather than making it a human right, taking the profit motive out of the equation, and spreading the cost throughout society...as all other democratic nations do.
What we can't afford isn't helping the sick get care, its continuing to give bigger and bigger tax breaks to corporations that profit off death and pollution, tax benefits to the super rich (top 1% have more wealth than bottom 90% combined...and the 6 Walton children from Walmart have more wealth than the bottom 30% of America COMBINED....yet are taxed at about 17%) who pay less in taxes than at any time in 60 years yet have more wealth than anytime since the 1920's (see the connection?), all the while, spending more on the military than the rest of the world combined.
So please...enough with the talk of a greedy sociopaths looking to deny the sick care in order to "save money" (which is a fraction of the cost that it would be if we DIDN'T provide care...and even a smaller fraction of all the money being horded by the rich and big corporations). Let's start combining basic economic common sense with basic human compassion...its a win win.