Medi-Cal system under attack in L.A.
October 1, 1997 less than 1 minute read
Medi-Cal system under attack in L.A.
The nonprofit Latino Coalition for a Healthy California recently attacked Los Angeles County’s new Medi-Cal System. According to the Coalition’s report, the new system when combined with federal welfare reform will endanger basic health care services to impoverished Latinos and other minorities.
The Coalition issued a 16-page report which criticized Los Angeles’ approach to managed care for the poor. The report cited inadequate translation of enrollment materials, poor beneficiary education, botched enrollment practices, and poor payments and support for doctors and hospitals from the old Medi-Cal system. Immigrant aid will be restricted under the federal welfare reform, and it will become more difficult for women and children to enroll, the report says.
This reform may shrink Medi-Cal roles and increase the number of uninsured. Also, since more than half of the 1.2 million targeted beneficiaries are Latino, linguistic barriers have also been a problem because of delays in translation. There is also the problem of providers improperly urging patients to enroll with them.
The program has been delayed twice by the federal government because of problems in patient enrollment and education. Full implementation of the program is not expected until January.
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