Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to how California MAGI Medi-Cal works, especially with Covered California, enrollment, termination, household income.
Is Covered California the only place to buy health insurance? No. You can buy a plan directly from one of the health insurance carriers available in your region. But there will be no subsidy to lower the monthly premiums. Enrollment into a health plan directly from the carrier is called off-exchange, as opposed to purchasing a plan on-exchange through Covered California.
What is interesting is that these 2020 FPL income levels are higher than what Covered California posted in their program eligibility income chart at the start of the 2020 open enrollment period. Covered California listed the single adult Medi-Cal annual income level, 138% of FPL, at $17,237 and for a two-adult household at $23,226. The DHCS 2020 FPL income chart lists a higher amount of $17,609 for a single adult and $23,792 for two adults.
The Medi-Cal HMO plans are very similar to private health insurance plans. The plans have member ID cards, a provider network, and a drug formulary. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that the Medi-Cal HMO plans have few primary care providers and specialists that are accepting new patients. I also hear the same complaint from my clients in private health plans.
If Medi-Cal makes any changes to your account through Covered California, and you have family members who are in a private health plan through Covered California, you need to finalize the new plan. In the above scenario, an additional subsidy was applied to lower the health insurance premium.
ABLE account beneficiaries can contribute their own income or property to their ABLE account. A beneficiary may transfer countable property to their ABLE account to spenddown excess property.
When the Covered California system is in the renewal mode, changes to your household will affect enrollment and subsidies for 2020. If you need to make changes for 2019, you will want to go through the Report A Change function on the home page.
The requirement to repay cost of Medicaid and CHIP benefits pertains only to a sponsor who has signed a Form I-864 Affidavit of Support or a Form I-864A Contract. The state agency may not seek repayment from the sponsored immigrant.
Covered California has developed a reprieve from immediate reporting to SAWS in the event of an error on the application that triggers Medi-Cal eligibility. The one-day delay in reporting the eligibility results to Medi-Cal is outlined in the CalHEERS 19.7 release scheduled to be implement on July 22, 2019.
The brochure also outlines the rights and responsibilities of the Medi-Cal beneficiary. Eligibility determinations, either enrollment or termination, can be appealed. myMedi-Cal discusses the time periods for the appeals and the right to a State Fair Hearing.
The HIPP program pays the medical insurance premiums, coinsurance, deductibles, and other cost-sharing obligations for the individual. The annual cost of the premiums and member cost-sharing is compared to the estimated cost of an equivalent set of Medi-Cal services. Outlined in in an ACWD Letter 09-02, DHCS uses a specific formula to determine the cost-effective nature of the private insurance over Medi-Cal FFS.
