BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1114 (Bonilla) - Health care: eligibility and enrollment
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|Version: June 15, 2015 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 13, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1114 would define the "forms and notices" that are
required to be translated into threshold languages as part of
the application and enrollment process for Medi-Cal and coverage
through Covered California.
Fiscal
Impact:
Ongoing costs of about $200,000 per year to oversee the
translation of documents and incorporation of those translated
documents into the automated systems for establishing
eligibility and enrollment in health care coverage (General
Fund and federal funds).
One-time costs up to $2 million to translate documents into
the required threshold languages (General Fund and federal
funds). Under current law, the Department is required to
translate the single application into the threshold languages.
However, the Department is not specifically required to
translate redetermination forms, notices of action, or forms
and letters explaining benefits into the threshold languages.
AB 1114 (Bonilla) Page 1 of
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According to the Department, the exact number of documents or
pages within those documents in not known, but could be as
high as 1,000 total pages. The estimated cost for translation
of these kind of documents is about $1,000 per page.
Unknown costs to make programmatic changes to information
technology systems (General Fund, federal funds, special
fund). Through the CalHEERs system, eligibility determinations
and notifications for Medi-Cal and Covered California are
largely automated. Currently, CalHEERs has only been
programmed to issue redetermination forms or notices of action
in English or Spanish (depending on the applicant's stated
language preference). In order to issue redetermination forms,
notices of action, and other documents in the
applicant/enrollee's language of preference, the CalHEERs
system will need programming changes.
Background: Under current law, Medi-Cal and Covered California are
required to provide the single application for coverage in
"threshold languages". The threshold depends on the size of the
plan's enrollment and the number of limited-English proficient
enrollees. Currently there are thirteen threshold languages in
the state with regards to Medi-Cal (Spanish, Vietnamese,
Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Cambodian, Korean, Tagalog, Russian,
Armenian, Arabic, Hmong and other Chinese languages).
Prior to the implementation of CalHEERs and the joint
application process for Medi-Cal and Covered California,
redetermination forms were translated into threshold languages
and sent to enrollees based on the enrollee's language
preference. However, after the implementation of the single
application process, redetermination forms and notices of action
have only been sent in English and Spanish.
AB 1296 (Bonilla, Statutes of 2011) created a process for the
Department of Health Care Services and Covered California to
develop plans and procedures for enrollment in state health care
programs. The sponsors of that bill indicate that their
intention was to require enrollment applications as well as
redetermination forms and notices to be translated into the
Medi-Cal threshold languages. However, the Department of Health
Care Services has not done so and a court has ruled that current
law only requires the enrollment form to be translated into the
AB 1114 (Bonilla) Page 2 of
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threshold languages. (Although there are more general
requirements in state and federal law requiring access to
services for limited English-speaking populations.)
Proposed Law:
AB 1114 would define the "forms and notices" that are required
to be translated into threshold languages as part of the
application and enrollment process for Medi-Cal and coverage
through Covered California.
The bill would define "forms and notices" to include
application, renewal, and other forms and letters needed to
obtain or retain eligibility, benefits, or services, and all
notices affecting the legal rights of applicants, beneficiaries,
and enrollees.
Staff
Comments: The definition of "forms and notices" in the bill is
very broad, and could encompass documents including application
forms and notices of action, but also information on Medi-Cal
managed care plan choices, benefits covered by Medi-Cal,
processes for appealing decisions by the Medi-Cal program and/or
a Medi-Cal managed care plan, and many other documents.
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