(film reel clattering) - Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to today's special briefing sponsored by the California Department of Healthcare Services and brought to you by Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media.

[background music] I'm Sunita Sohrabji, EMS' healthcare editor and your moderator for today's briefing.

And, as most of you know, as of April 2023, California has 14 months to review the eligibility of 15 million Medi-Cal enrollees after suspending this process through the COVID-19 pandemic.

An estimated 2 to 3 million Californians may leave the program during this "unwinding period", as it's called, that is happening nationwide, and it is critical that enrollees watch out for notifications from their local Medi-Cal offices.

If, for example, the envelopes are yellow, they need to provide more information and must respond right away to keep their coverage.

Enrollees are at risk of getting disenrolled if they do not respond, or because of administrative barriers such as local Medi-Cal offices [background music fades] not having their current contact information.

So, today this briefing will break down the redetermination process, who is at risk for being disenrolled, what people can do to get ready and how to get information in 19 languages on the DHCS website.

Our speakers include Yingjia Huang, the associate deputy director at the Department of Healthcare Services; Mayra Alvarez, the executive director of The Children's Partnership; and David Roman, South Central Family Healthcare Center, director of Development and Communications.

So, we begin today's discussion with Yingjia Huang.

Welcome to the briefing, Yingjia.

- Hello.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Yingjia Huang.

Thank you, Sunita, for the warm introduction.

So, this month is a big month for the Department of Healthcare Services.

This month, April 1st the department began our Medicaid renewal process for over 15 million individuals across the state of California.

During COVID-19, because of the pandemic, federal rules stopped all the annual eligibility processing which is part of the normal Medi-Cal renewals process or, the procedures, to continue your Medi-Cal for every year.

So, the pandemic stopped all the annual processing.

And, April 1st, three years later, we are beginning the process again.

Today, we do wanna share some of the steps needed just so that we can maintain the coverage of all our Medi-Cal beneficiaries to the extent possible.

Over the next year, everyone on Medi-Cal will have their eligibility redetermined.

The department, as part of this process, will need updated information from our Medi-Cal members during this time.

Specifically, we need our Medi-Cal members to update their addresses, their phone numbers, their emails with their local Medi-Cal county offices.

The easiest way is to actually do this online and we will also provide the links.

It is the BenefitsCal, or MyBenefits CalWIN which are the local county Medi-Cal websites where a lot of our Medi-Cal members have actual accounts for them to log in, update their information.

That information is very important to continue your Medi-Cal.

Not everyone will be redetermined at the same time.

All our members will actually have different Medi-Cal renewal months.

And so, depending on the renewal month they may potentially get auto-renewed and they will get a letter in the mail from their local Medi-Cal county office stating, "Congratulations, your Medi-Cal has been renewed for one year."

Or if they are not renewed automatically, what's going to happen is the local Medi-Cal office will need to send out a packet in the mail and the packet will come in a yellow envelope and you could update that information.

Your address, your phone number your email on the online account.

Everyone's renewal date is different.

It begins this month, April of 2023, and it will go through May of 2024.

So, it will be a 14-month process.

Again, everyone's renewal dates will be different.

It'll be great for our Medi-Cal members to log on to these county portals to check your renewal date because you can do your renewal either online or it will also come to you in the mail.

So, regardless of whether the county local office is able to renew you automatically, you will still get a letter in your actual mailbox or you will get an actual packet in the mail in a yellow envelope for you to fill out.

It is critical for our Medi-Cal members to complete the renewal, fill out the packet or they could also do the renewal online.

So, once you get the packet you also have an option to do it using your online account, or call the county and you could actually also do the renewal through the phone.

So, there are many different methods just so that it's an open-door policy, and the goal is to make it accessible to all our Medi-Cal members.

And, this is critical that they do it by the due date that is on the prepopulated packet, the yellow packet that will come to you.

If that's not completed by the due date, there is a possibility that you will lose coverage from Medi-Cal.

Another point to share is if you are not eligible for Medi-Cal because you may have made more money over the course of the pandemic, the county will automatically send your information to Covered California, which is the state's exchange where you'd purchase insurance with a premium tax credit.

That process is automatic.

Covered California will automatically take your case and they will review, you know, all the income making sure your information's accurate and to connect you to a plan for you to choose and make a plan selection.

So, that process is automatic, but it all goes back to the member must have their most updated information with the county Medi-Cal office for that process to happen.

So, we do wanna make sure as a department that we are avoiding any coverage gaps for our members.

So, we highly urge that folks pay attention to the mail, log in to your Medi-Cal accounts, and also, they could also log on to www.medi-calcoverage.org, which is the Department of Healthcare Services' locally-created domain landing page really for the department to send out news alerts to our Medi-Cal members just so they have the most updated information.

Again, the process has began April 1st.

It will be through May of 2024.

And, the first step is really having our Medi-Cal members making sure they have the most updated contact information with our local Medi-Cal offices.

And, lastly, with this huge effort that we are undertaking the department is also working on our eligibility expansions, the [age] 26 through [age] 49 expansions as well as the elimination of assets.

Both of them are critical and will happen on January 1st of 2024.

And, all those will be important.

Our Medi-Cal offices are trained to understand the impacts of those as the Medi-Cal redetermination's happening.

And, that is something that we are very excited about across the state and we are looking to our Medi-Cal members to make sure that they're aware of these changes at the same time.

So, thank you so much.

- Okay, thank you.

We move on next to Mayra Alvarez of The Children's Partnership.

Welcome, Mayra.

- My name is Mayra Alvarez.

I'm president of The Children's Partnership.

We are a statewide advocacy organization focused on advancing child's health equity and we do our work in partnership with local and state partners in order to advance a shared agenda that focuses on the well-being of our most marginalized children.

Today, as we continue our work together to provide for families that have been hardest hit by these last few years of the pandemic but also by historic racism, we cannot understate the significance of what is happening across the state with this "unwinding" and what's happening frankly across the country.

We are here today because we need to help families keep their coverage, keep their children's, keep their own Medi-Cal coverage as we come out of this public health emergency.

Health insurance coverage and access to care, it's essential.

It's essential for everyone to be healthy and to thrive particularly during this pandemic which has also exacerbated mental health issues for children and youth.

Across the state, 15 million Californians depend on Medi-Cal for the security of health insurance coverage including 5.7 million children.

Over half of all of our kids in California depend on Medi-Cal.

Overwhelmingly, the people that are enrolled in Medi-Cal are people of color.

In fact, almost 70% of children enrolled in Medi-Cal are children of color.

It is a lifeline for so many in our communities and it's a program that continues to be available for the millions enrolled, and, as Yingjia said, the many more who will become newly eligible.

We want to make clear, though, that though there are changes happening, Medi-Cal coverage can continue for every eligible Californian, and that there are other opportunities for coverage such as through Covered California.

Now is the time to make sure we're taking the necessary steps to keep our coverage.

So, for families on Medi-Cal, it may have been a long time since they last renewed their coverage.

And, if, for example, a termination notice is sent to an old address, they may never get that information!

That results in procedural terminations.

And, those who actually might still be eligible for Medi-Cal may end up losing their coverage.

We know when you combine these disruptions with the burdensome administrative requests to fill out forms and prove their eligibility, we're risking disrupting the coverage, the very coverage that people, that families, that children need to get the screenings and supports and care necessary to grow up healthy.

And, it's particularly frustrating because those that often lose coverage, again, they lose it unnecessarily.

We see this through multiple analyses at the federal level that have found children, Latinx communities, they're more likely to lose coverage because of these procedural issues, these administrative barriers, not because they're no longer eligible.

But, as you heard from Yingjia, Medi-Cal continuous coverage protections have made possible the ability for millions of Californians to stay covered because we removed those barriers.

We removed those administrative hurdles.

But now, as we're coming back out of this emergency, we're figuring out a way to make sure people stay covered.

Because of the protections during the public health emergency, that rate decreased from 7.5% to under 1% because of these protections.

That results in 340,000 kids protected from losing coverage.

So, as we begin this redetermination process we're estimating that 2.3 million Medi-Cal beneficiaries may lose their Medi-Cal coverage because of this process.

That is expected to translate to 800,000 to 1 million children losing their Medi-Cal coverage in California.

One family, one child, one person losing coverage unnecessarily is unacceptable.

It's why this conversation today is especially important because families, individuals, today can take the steps to prevent that loss of coverage.

Families need to know that if they recently changed their address or they've moved since March of 2020, they need to update their contact information with their county to ensure they receive that Medi-Cal renewal package.

It comes in a big yellow envelope.

It's pretty hard to miss!

My uncle got his just a couple months ago.

They'll complete the forms in the packet and all requested verifications by the due date.

Again, for those that are receiving those yellow packets in the mail this month, they're expected to be completed by the end of June.

If folks have not had a change in address or contact information in the past two years, then they don't need to update their contact information.

And, they'll be able to have this auto-enrollment as a result of the information continuing to allow them to remain eligible.

I wanna say that the work to protect Californians, to protect California children and families and their health coverage, it's gonna require an all-hands-on-deck effort.

We are encouraging each of you as our partners in this information sharing to spread the word that the time is now to begin the process for renewal.

Medi-Cal is an essential lifeline for many of our California children and families.

And, it is their right to this coverage to remain healthy and utilizing these steps will help that coverage continue to exist for them.

But, we also need schools and childcare centers, churches and clinics, and community health centers like you'll hear to really be in this process with us, to let families know that Medi-Cal continuous coverage protections are ending, but Medi-Cal is not.

Medi-Cal continues.

Our families can keep their benefits by renewing their coverage with their respective county office.

And, I want to ensure we're giving special attention to our communities of color, our Latinx communities, our Black communities, our immigrant families who are more likely to be impacted.

We are in this work together and together we can make sure all who need coverage keep it and get it.

And, the last thing I will say is this information about enrollment and ensuring people know the steps to that enrollment and that it's their right to be enrolled is particularly important as we gear up for the expansion of Medi-Cal to our undocumented communities.

As Yingjia said, it's around the corner: it's January 2024 where 26-to-49-year-olds will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal.

We'll be the first state in the country to allow all eligible undocumented people to be part of Medi-Cal, but we'll only get there if we continue to do this work and information sharing together.

And, the last thing I will say is that as we continue to strengthen Medi-Cal for our families, last year the state of California did enact a policy to continue covering young kids in Medi-Cal continuously.

So, for Medi-Cal enrolled children, zero-to-five, we want to move forward a policy to continuously cover them.

That policy is slated to begin in 2025, and we're putting pressure on our administration and our legislative partners to move that as expeditiously as possible so not one child loses the security that comes with health insurance coverage.

We are grateful that our leaders are prioritizing the health and well-being of children and families through that effort.

And, we're excited to see that move forward.

Thank you all for being our partners in this work to spread this information and to ensure our Medi-Cal program is as strong as possible for all children and families that are eligible.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

I wanted to mention that David Roman is unable to join us.

He had a medical emergency, but Maria Romero-Mora from DHCS is here and I would like to ask her to take some of these questions that we're getting.

Maria, are you okay with that?

- Yes, that's okay!

(chuckles) - Alright, super!

So, let's direct the next question from Peter Sherman.

Peter, will you direct your question to Maria?

- [Peter] You know, I'm just curious, and sort of, I guess, piggybacking off of Mayra's previous comments.

How much is this all part of a shift?

Or, how likely is it that we may see universal healthcare in California in the months or years ahead?

You know, as part of this conversation around removing these barriers, is that a likelihood?

Is that a desired outcome?

(chuckles) [clacking keyboard sounds] - [Maria] Mayra, I'll let you take this one, but we're getting there!

(panelists chuckling) - [Sunita] Actually, I'd like to hear responses from all three of you.

That's a great question!

- Peter, I absolutely think that's a desired outcome from many, many, many families, advocates, policy makers.

The idea of universal coverage is a shared goal for many.

The pathway to get to universal coverage and what universal coverage means is the question.

But, we've already seen some activity.

There's been a commission looking at this universal coverage idea with representation from legislative officials as well as the administration really thinking through this "health for all" concept.

They put out a report with recommendations.

There's ways of-- there's conversations around expanding Medi-Cal to cover more people, expanding Covered California.

So, there are a lot of ideas around what that could look like and I think it's an exciting time to ensure that more and more Americans are aware of these opportunities and engage in the advocacy necessary, again, to ensure that we have a healthcare system that's for all of us.

- Anyone else wanna take that on?

- [Yingjia] Sure!

Just to add on from the department's perspective, I think we are supportive of this.

As many of you have seen, California's definitely leading the nation in terms of how we are transforming the Medi-Cal program.

We're probably one of the first to remove all of the asset for our aged, blind, disabled; increase it to an amount and then remove it in its entirety.

And, doing exactly what we have been sharing, the zero-to-five continuous coverage as well as the undocumented expansions which we will complete by Jan. 1.

- Maria, what about you?

- I can share from personal experience.

I started working with children that were undocumented to enroll them into emergency Medi-Cal and a local health plan.

This is...15 years ago and we're in a much better position.

And, 2014-?

2024, it's around the corner.

And, everybody will be able to apply for health coverage and get the basic benefits to just be able to go and see a doctor and do their checkups and things like that if they're income-eligible.

So, we have come a long way and we're moving ahead!

(chuckles) - And, a question for all three of you.

We realize that redetermination is a federal requirement but is this process going to widen [background music] the disparities in healthcare access at a time when pandemic supports are being removed?

- I can start.

I think- understanding it's a federal requirement- we believe that through the outreach that we're doing and through the rules that we have established and the safety net we have established for the program, I think we're doing everything we can with the authority we have as state government to make sure that we are not expanding any of the disparities on the eligibility expansions that California has taken, and is leading the nation in is probably one-of-a-kind.

And, that is a tool and a strategy we're using to minimize the disparity that we are seeing.

So, um?

Mayra, if you would like to add on?

- I think the only thing I will add on is that it's why we have such an intentional strategy to utilize our navigator network to build this ambassador program to engage additional community leaders and partners in the education effort because we do not want to widen those disparities.

Again, people of color disproportionately rely on Medi-Cal so they are disproportionately at risk of losing their coverage.

The numbers tell that story.

So, it is up to us and our actions and our commitments to educating our communities to help prevent that.

And, it's not gonna be easy.

There's a lot of misinformation and confusion out there coming at people.

So, the more we can relay the correct information a consistent message through trusted channels of communications such as ethnic media, the more we can prevent the widening of those disparities.

- Thank you.

Maria, here's a question directed to you.

[reads the chat] What do you want to add into the conversation about the role of Medi-Cal offices at the county level in terms of getting the supports to communities at risk?

- Yes.

The local Medi-Cal offices are there to support the Medi-Cal member and their eligibility.

Any program related, having to see the doctor, all of that, individuals need to contact their plans and learn to navigate that system if they don't know it.

And, there's a lot of support online.

The navigators are supporting families hand-on-hand to walk them through that process.

The local offices are there to receive those calls or in-person to support with the eligibility piece to make sure that individual doesn't lose their coverage.

And, on the chat, I provided lots of sources there so that, you know, you guys can go there and we'll be available after this briefing to follow up on anything that we didn't cover.

- Before we end this call, I want to thank Regina Wilson and California Black Media who are our co-sponsors of this briefing.

And, I wanted to end, [soft background music] I would like Regina Wilson of California Black Media to make some final remarks for today.

Thank you to all our speakers and reporters.

Regina, welcome!

- I just wanna thank you all for coming, sharing this information with us today.

I know that this is going to be really, really impactful.

I was even getting calls.

That's why I was kind of going on and off the camera because I was talking to my Black Women's Think Tank chair-- executive director because there are a lot of questions that I think I'm gonna have after this to look at how this is going to affect such another vulnerable population like our immigrant population but Black women, in particular.

So, thank you all for coming and I look forward to the stories that will be written about this.

- Take care, everyone.

See you next Friday!

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