Underinsured ACA Enrollees Strain Community Health Centers

[daredtowork]

1. And there is always deprivation of mandated insurance by omission

Been without Medi-Cal since Sept. 2 simply because my Social Services case worker wouldn't put me back in the Medi-Cal database after I tried to earn some money for necessities and this cause everything at Social Services to auto-default to "shut off". The Social Services case worker has no incentive to fix my Medi-Cal situation, and there are no consequences if he doesn't fix it. Appealing is supposed to create some indirect ding on his record, but it doesn't address the situation any faster.

I have been going without medications, appointments, etc. since Sept. 2. In an emergency, I would be effectively "uninsured" wherever I went to get my problem addressed. My understanding is once I get Medi-Cal re-established, whoever treated me within 3-months can get back-billed, but still this hassle.

The ACA was a great first step, but there are far too many layers of complications and misdirects to allow stuff like this to happen. We need to just cut to the chase and do what we've been trying to "approach" - implement some sort of universal health care. Don't leave any "cracks" for people to fall through.