BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1369
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1369 (Cedillo)
As Amended April 10, 2008
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :30-3
EDUCATION 8-2
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|Ayes:|Mullin, Brownley, Coto, | | |
| |Eng, Hancock, Karnette, | | |
| |Nakanishi, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Garrick, Huff | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Grants school districts the option to avoid the step
of processing a school lunch program application for the
purposes of determining eligibility for Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families, if the district knows that the child already has an
active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families case. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Grants school districts the option of not processing the
school lunch program application for an accelerated
determination and not forwarding it to the entity designated
by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to
determine Medi-Cal eligibility and make an accelerated
determination, when the school has data indicating that the
child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families case.
2)Adds to the application for free school meals, for those
school districts or county superintendents of schools who have
chosen to participate in express enrollment, a notification to
parents that, if the school district possesses data indicating
that child already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families
case, the information on the school lunch application will not
be shared. Requires that notice sent by a participating
school district contain directions on how to obtain additional
information about the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs
so that families can obtain health care coverage for children.
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3)Requires that, if the school district has verified that the
child does not have an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families
case, it must process the application for an accelerated
Medi-Cal determination and forward it to the entity designated
to make an accelerated determination of Medi-Cal eligibility.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Grants school districts and county superintendents of schools
the option to include, in the school lunch program application
materials or the notification of eligibility, a request for
parental consent for the child to participate in the Medi-Cal
program, and have the information on the school lunch
application shared with the entity designated by DHCS,
typically the county, to make an accelerated determination of
Medi-Cal eligibility.
2)Prohibits a school, if the school is aware that a child
already has an active Medi-Cal or Healthy Families case, from
forwarding the application to the entity that makes the
accelerated determination, but requires the school to forward
that application to the local agency that determines Medi-Cal
eligibility.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill will streamline
eligibility by allowing school districts the option of not
forwarding Medi-Cal applications for children to the county if
the school district has data showing the child is already
enrolled. The author notes that parents or guardians would be
notified and told how to obtain more information about how to
receive coverage under Medi-Cal or Health Families. The author
argues that reducing the number of applications forwarded to the
responsible county agency for processing will significantly
reduce the time and money spent on processing Medi-Cal
applications for children who are already enrolled.
A 2006 report by The Children's Partnership entitled,
"California's Express Enrollment Program," studied the
effectiveness and efficiency of the express enrollment pilot
program implemented in the following school districts: Fresno
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Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Redwood City Unified, San Diego
Unified, Lucia Mar, Laytonville, and Point Arena. The study
found that roughly 40% of the applications returned to the
districts were for students already enrolled in Medi-Cal, but
the districts were required, by current law, to forward these
applications to the county anyway.
Under express enrollment, families in a participating school
district can apply for Medi-Cal by authorizing the use of their
child's school lunch application information for a Medi-Cal
eligibility determination. School districts review the
applications of children eligible for free school meals and
provide a certification for express enrollment into Medi-Cal, on
the basis of the information in the school lunch application,
within five days. Families do not need to complete a full
Medi-Cal application or document their income since eligibility
for the school lunch program meets these requirements. Children
certified as eligible for express enrollment immediately receive
temporary health care coverage and are sent a beneficiary card
while the county collects additional information to make a final
eligibility determination. If a child is found ineligible
based on the information, the county conducts a complete review
for Medi-Cal eligibility and also may send the information to
the Healthy Families program.
The County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) supports the
bill and argues that this bill will eliminate duplicative work
on the part of schools and counties who are processing
applications for children who are already receiving Medi-Cal.
CWDA argues that this will allow them to focus on those children
for whom an application is truly needed and will expedite the
enrollment of eligible children into Medi-Cal or Healthy
Families.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005478