Sukey Guadalupe Ramirez’s son had multiple heart surgeries at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that saved his life after Medi-Cal coverage expanded to cover undocumented children in 2015.
Now, Ramirez is eligible for comprehensive coverage after California expanded Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented and low-income people between the ages of 26 and 49 on Jan. 1. Medi-Cal is the state’s version of the Medicaid health insurance program.
“There was always a peace of mind knowing that my kids had coverage,” Ramirez said at an L.A. County Health Care/Medi-Cal expansion briefing on Thursday. “But now that we can have coverage too, it’s an additional relief because now I don’t have to worry about the expense of caring for myself.”
This expansion will give an estimated 700,000 people statewide access to the full-scope of Medi-Cal. That includes mental health, medical, vision and dental care. It’ll also include long-term care, substance use disorder services, in-home care and more.
The state said undocumented people applying for Medi-Cal benefits will not qualify as a public charge, aside from a few small exceptions. Those would include residential nursing homes, and mental health institutional care.
“A lot of our families were having to choose between paying for some invasive dental work or vision or getting new glasses or whatnot or putting food on the table,” said Celia Valdez, the director of outreach and education at Maternal and Child Health Access.
A majority of the people benefitting from the latest Medi-Cal expansion are Latino, Asian, Armenian and more, according to Anna Gorman, Director of My Health LA. She said most didn’t have satisfactory immigration status to qualify for full-scope Medi-Cal in the past.
The state began expanding benefits in 2015 and…
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