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, combined with federal welfare reform, will endanger basic health care services to impoverished Latinos and other minorities.
The 16-page report 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 in Medi-Cal, the report states. This reform may shrink Medi-Cal rolls, and increase the number of uninsured. 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. Providers also have been accused of improperly urging patients to enroll with them.
This critique was issued after complaints from physician groups, community organizations, and even the federal government.
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 1999.
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