More than 4,000 low-income Ventura County residents lose Medi-Cal coverage
More than 4,000 low-income Ventura County residents lost their Medi-Cal insurance in July and August because protections put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic expired.
The measures guaranteed health coverage and stopped annual eligibility reviews. The steps expired earlier this year, meaning counties again started checking income levels and home residences. Officials stopped the federally subsidized insurance for those who no longer met standards or didn’t respond to queries despite significant outreach efforts.
In Ventura County, about 3,400 people lost their coverage at least temporarily as of July 1 and about 900 were discontinued in early August. The numbers will likely grow with several thousand more cases still being reviewed.
The so-called unwinding process continues through May 2024, and county Human Services Agency officials projected earlier this year that as many 50,000 people could lose their coverage.
Robin Godfrey, an agency spokesperson, said it's unclear if the projections will prove accurate. But she said the number of people who lost coverage over the two months appears to be on par with the number of people whose coverage was discontinued in annual eligibility reviews before COVID emerged in 2020.
"You hate to say it’s good because we don’t want anybody to lose coverage who is eligible," she said.
For months, the expiration of the pandemic protections triggered fears over vulnerable people losing coverage because they didn't respond to mailings and weren't aware they needed to renew. Across California, officials expect 1.8 million to 2.8 million people to lose coverage over a year. Some of those people likely won't realize they're uninsured until they try to get care.
The worries helped drive an outreach campaign that includes mailings, text blasts, freeway billboards and radio ads. Community groups spread the word of the renewals and helped walk people through the process. Godfrey praised the efforts and said they will continue through May.
Still, some people are unaware. In July, about 5,000 people who needed to renew didn't respond to mailings and other outreach efforts.
"We don’t know if they moved out of the state or if they have a great job and they don’t need Medi-Cal or they didn’t see the (renewal) envelope," Godfrey said.
People who were unemployed during the pandemic and now have jobs may no longer meet income standards for Medi-Cal. If they can’t get insurance through work, they are being referred to low- or no-cost plans offered via Covered California. The program was created by the Affordable Care Act and started offering coverage nearly a decade ago.
People can check their Medi-Cal status by going to https://benefitscal.com. If they need to renew, they can contact Medi-Cal navigators for help at 833-607-2650 or in English, Spanish and Mixtec at 805-215-0730.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: To see more stories like this, subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousands of Ventura County residents lose Medi-Cal coverage
