Diana is one of 7.1 million Americans who rely on Medicaid’s non-emergency transportation benefit (NEMT) to help her get to her medical appointments. NEMT is an important Medicaid benefit for the people who rely on transportation services to help them visit their doctors, receive treatment for chronic conditions, and travel to settings such as adult day health care. Yet, every year, an estimated 3.6 million Americans miss or delay health care because of difficulty accessing these critical services. When transportation services work, they help people get to their doctors and other needed health services so they can continue to live at home and in the community. When they do not work, Medicaid beneficiaries like Diana are left stranded, frustrated, and without access to needed medical care and services. Read More
The Cal MediConnect (CMC) program, which created new health plans integrating Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits for dually eligible beneficiaries, has been in effect for over two years in seven California counties. Enrollment data released by DHCS and a recent series of evaluations, including surveys, focus groups, and polling, paint a picture of how the program is performing and how enrollees are faring so far. Read More
Justice in Aging is excited to launch a new project: Improving Oral Health of California’s Older Adults. Oral health is a critical aspect of overall health for people of all ages, but especially for older adults. Unfortunately, the oral health needs of older adults, and particularly low-income older adults, in California have been neglected. As a result, older adults encounter significant challenges when attempting to access oral healthcare and consequently experience severe mouth pain, tooth loss, and the worsening of chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and diabetes.
California Healthline: State Makes Changes To Managed Care Program For Elderly, Disabled (5/5/2016) California has made several changes to the Coordinated Care Initiative program. Changes include allowing consumers to request enrollment without a state-contracted enrollment banker and longer transition periods. Automatic enrollment, which “didn’t work very well” said Justice in Aging’s Denny Chan, has been replaced with voluntary enrollment.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, half of all people on Medicare live on $24,000 or less a year, with 25% living on less than $14,000 a year. Read More
This spring marks the 6th anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which created the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO). In the past few years, MMCO, states, and advocates committed incredible resources and time to improving care and services for dual eligible individuals. This webinar provided an update on dual eligible demonstrations and dual eligible initiatives and highlighted areas for future improvement. Read More
California began implementation of the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), including the federally-approved dual eligible demonstration known as Cal MediConnect, in April 2014. The CCI is now underway in seven counties including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.