{"id":125928,"date":"2021-07-28T22:46:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T05:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=125928"},"modified":"2021-07-28T22:46:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T05:46:13","slug":"governor-newsom-signs-into-law-expansion-of-medi-cal-to-undocumented-californians-age-50-and-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=125928","title":{"rendered":"Governor Newsom Signs Into Law Expansion of Medi-Cal to Undocumented Californians Age 50 and Over."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fresno, CA&#8230;At a health clinic in Fresno County yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation making California the first state in the nation to expand full-scope Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income adults 50 years of age or older, regardless of immigration status \u2013 a major milestone in the state\u2019s progress toward universal health coverage.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailytide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/7.27.21-health-trailer-bill-scaled-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10639\" src=\"https:\/\/dailytide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/7.27.21-health-trailer-bill-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At Fresno health clinic,\u00a0Governor Newsom signs health care trailer bill expanding Medi-Cal to undocumented Californians age 50 and over<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xJPcPXW02x4\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The health care trailer bill, AB 133, makes bold changes toward a more equitable and prevention-focused approach to health care through expanded behavioral health initiatives supporting California youth and people with severe behavioral health challenges, including those experiencing homelessness; extending Medi-Cal eligibility for postpartum individuals; supporting continued telehealth flexibilities; and advancing the state\u2019s innovative CalAIM initiative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re investing California\u2019s historic surplus to accomplish transformative changes we\u2019ve long dreamed of \u2013 including this historic Medi-Cal expansion to ensure thousands of older undocumented Californians, many of whom have been serving on the front lines of the pandemic, can access critical health care services,\u201d said Governor Newsom. \u201cI thank the Legislature for its steadfast partnership to bring California closer to universal health care coverage and advance comprehensive initiatives to ensure California\u2019s communities come back from the pandemic stronger and healthier than before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under AB 133, approximately 235,000 Californians aged 50 years and older are newly eligible for Medi-Cal, including preventive services, long-term care and In-Home Supportive Services. In 2019, California became the first state to extend Medi-Cal coverage to all eligible undocumented young adults up to the age of 26 and with today\u2019s expansion, the state has the most inclusive health coverage for low-income persons in the country. AB 133 also extends the Medi-Cal postpartum care period from 60 days to 12\u00a0<span class=\"NoSpacingChar\">months without requiring<\/span>\u00a0a mental health diagnosis, including for eligible undocumented Californians.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Newsom signed the legislation today at a Clinica Sierra Vista location in Fresno administering COVID-19 vaccinations to residents, in addition to serving the community\u2019s primary medical, dental and behavioral health needs.<\/p>\n<p>During his visit, the Governor highlighted the state\u2019s multi-pronged strategy to reach communities with low vaccination rates and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2021\/07\/26\/california-implements-first-in-the-nation-measures-to-encourage-state-employees-and-health-care-workers-to-get-vaccinated\/\">first-in-the-nation measures<\/a>\u00a0announced yesterday to require all state workers and workers in health care and high-risk congregate settings to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week. Local governments and businesses are encouraged to adopt similar measures amid the growing threat of the\u00a0Delta variant.<\/p>\n<p>Changing the life trajectory of children and youth in California, the health care trailer bill creates a prevention-focused behavioral health system in which all Californians age 25 and younger are supported and routinely screened for emerging and existing behavioral health needs \u2013 enabling them to grow up healthier, both physically and mentally. The initiative includes the creation of a statewide portal to connect young people with telehealth visits.<\/p>\n<p>AB 133 implements an important component of the California Comeback Plan\u2019s $12 billion homelessness package, creating the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program at the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to expand treatment and housing options for all Californians, including people experiencing homelessness who struggle with the most acute behavioral health needs. AB 133 implements the Plan\u2019s $2.2 billion investment for DHCS to provide competitive grants to local governments to construct, acquire and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in mobile crisis infrastructure to expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources. The Plan\u2019s total investments in this space constitute the biggest expansion in decades for clinically enhanced behavioral health housing.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, AB 133 advances the state\u2019s CalAIM initiative, a major transformation of the delivery of Medi-Cal to better manage risk and improve outcomes through whole person care approaches and addressing social determinants of health, and extends telehealth flexibilities allowed during the pandemic through December 2022, including payment parity for services delivered through audio-only modalities.<\/p>\n<p>For full text of the\u00a0bill, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/<span class=\"mark49f3y0qyj\">leginfo<\/span>.legislature.ca.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fresno, CA&#8230;At a health clinic in Fresno County yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation making California the first state in the nation to expand full-scope Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income adults 50 years of age or older, regardless of immigration status \u2013 a major milestone in the state\u2019s progress toward universal health coverage. At Fresno health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,33,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-health-fitness","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/7.27.21-health-trailer-bill-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/125929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}