Like a mugger coming out of the shadows, San Diego County Medi-Cal worker(s) mugged a family enrolled in Covered California and stole their health insurance for 2107. The attack was unprovoked as the couple had not been in Medi-Cal and don’t have any children in Medi-Cal. However, Covered California reported the family to San Diego County because the family fit the profile of a household who they think aren’t smart enough to estimate their own income for 2017.
San Diego County Medi-Cal Strips Family’s Health Insurance
Several of California’s counties have become infamous for their anonymous attacks on Covered California consumers. The Medi-Cal divisions of these counties go in make all sorts of changes without authorization or notification to Covered California accounts. These changes usually result in some or all of the family members being re-determined eligible for Medi-Cal. The families lose their private insurance with the Obamacare tax credits. The San Diego mugging not only stripped this family of health insurance, leaving them to bleed to death on the sidewalk, they didn’t even offer them Medi-Cal!
Unprovoked December Medi-Cal Attack on Covered California Account
On December 14, 2016, over a month after the family had enrolled in a health plan through Covered California, San Diego Medi-Cal ambushed the family. Over the next two days they made 11 different account changes and 6 eligibility updates. The eligibility updates give the latest status of the account detailing which household members are eligible for which programs. The number of eligibility updates looks like a criminal coming back to see if the victims are still breathing and if they are, the attacker kicks them a few more times.
The family was notified they were stripped of their 2017 health insurance in a letter they received on December 20th. Upon review of attack in the families Covered California account, we confirmed the family lost their 2017 enrollment, one member has been designated that she no longer wants any health insurance, and the other family member can enroll, but not until February. Because the attack occurred on the last days of Open Enrollment, by the time the family received the letter indicating they had lost coverage, open enrollment had closed preventing them from securing health insurance for January 2017. Currently, Covered California will only allow one of the household members to enroll, but the effective date would be February 1. For all of January neither of the family members will have any insurance unless their eligibility for either Medi-Cal or Covered California is restored.
What is perplexing is that the San Diego County Medi-Cal’s meddling in the family’s Covered California account resulted in neither household members being eligible for Medi-Cal. That is usually the whole point of county Medi-Cal intervention, to push people into Medi-Cal. But for this family Medi-Cal hasn’t even been offered. The final eligibility table shows how screwed up the Medi-Cal incursion was. Mr. Bundy shows both Medi-Cal Pending and Premium Tax Credit Assistance Eligible, starting at the same time on January 1. Medi-Cal decided that Mrs. Bundy was not worth even basic medical coverage. She was determined Medi-Cal Ineligible and discontinued any Covered California health insurance effective January 1. In a sense, they punched her in the gut, kicked her in the head, and left her to suffer on the sidewalk with no health insurance.
Covered California Snitches Like An Informant
Medi-Cal and Covered California act like little kids. Each one blames the other for all the stupid problems consumers face. But Covered California is also a little snitch. They informed San Diego County Medi-Cal to monitor the Bundy family like some sort of Russian authoritarian bureaucracy checking on their loyalty to big brother. The family has not done anything wrong except try to and squeeze out a living in San Diego. But Covered California assumed they might be subversive. For their own good, Covered California turned them into Medi-Cal because they may not make enough money for Obamacare.
If San Diego County Medi-Cal had looked at the application they would have seen that the recent income increase I, as their agent, made for the family on November 8 place the family above the eligibility level for Medi-Cal. But the County Worker (CW) didn’t trust me or the family. They eliminated the income change. Why? How dare you ask questions of the bureaucracy? They know what is best for you even if they don’t know the difference between a Schedule C, D, or E tax form. Medi-Cal can see into your soul via Covered California and can make life altering decisions without authorization or notification.
Medi-Cal Death Panels And The Help Desk
The latest news is the family members are in critical condition. A death panel also known as the Medi-Cal Help Desk will review the changes to the couple’s account. They will make the determination to either release the family back to Covered California, or to keep them in the system and let them die a slow and painful death. If they are released from Medi-Cal, we still have to convince Covered California to let them enroll BACK into the health plan Medi-Cal terminated them from for a January 1 effective date. This will probably require a whole new death panel, I mean appeals process, to determine if the family is worthy of health insurance.