SB 222: Inmates: health care enrollment.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires Medi-Cal benefits to an individual who is an inmate of a public institution to be suspended effective the date he or she becomes an inmate of a public institution. Existing law requires the suspension to end on the date that he or she is no longer an inmate of a public institution or one year from the date he or she becomes an inmate of a public institution, whichever is sooner.

This bill instead would require the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to end on the date he or she is no longer an inmate of a public institution or is no longer otherwise eligible for benefits under the Medi-Cal program. The bill would require the department, in consultation with specified stakeholders, to develop and implement a simplified annual renewal process for individuals in a suspended eligibility status, and would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals or waivers to implement this provision.