Visalia man dies while waiting for Medi-Cal insurance
By Barbara Anderson, The Fresno Bee | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Hundreds of thousands of people have been stuck -- some for months -- waiting to receive
At a minimum, the state should send a notice to applicants that they have the right to go to a hearing and have their eligibility determined, she said.
The state did not have specific numbers for counties. But
The lawsuit is not a class-action suit, but its outcome would affect the state's
According to the plaintiffs, applicants who are waiting to receive
Rivera was not available for comment Wednesday evening, Sonnad said.
But her son,
Cribbs had suffered from an array of conditions over the years, and his mother knew something was wrong with his heart, the organizations said. He worked a low-wage job and could not pay for insurance, and Rivera would take him to the emergency room when he was in pain.
The family was encouraged when he applied for a subsidized plan under Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, the organizations said. But he was told he might qualify for
He was still waiting five months later when he died, they said. Two months after he died, Rivera received a letter stating Cribbs qualified for
Flory said the plaintiffs -- Rivera and two individuals from
The lawsuit was brought after meetings with the Health Care Services department failed to resolve the backlog, Flory said. "We feel like we've just come to the end of the line" in talking with the state, she said.
The organizations and state had been meeting on almost a weekly basis, she said, and the groups had sent letters of recommendations to eliminate the backlog, including giving presumptive eligibility to all the applicants and using an accelerated enrollment process for children. "There are other ways to clear the backlog that they have chosen not to," she said.
Cava said there are reasons for some applications to be pending, such as a missing pay stub to verify income or omitted information.
The department and its county partners also have to deal with duplicate applications that occur when a person starts more than one application, he said.
Flory said the petition for a writ of mandate doesn't tell the state how to eliminate the backlog. "We're just asking them to follow the law."
The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6310, [email protected] or @beehealthwriter on Twitter.
___
(c)2014 The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.)
Visit The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.) at www.fresnobee.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Wordcount: | 731 |
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News