As Obamacare Takes Hold, Unpaid Hospital Bills Vanish

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http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83708981/

Bill would limit efforts to recoup Medi-Cal costs from patients' estates
BY STUART PFEIFER
June 5, 2015, 4:00 a.m.

The state's Medi-Cal program has long looked to the estates and heirs of deceased Californians to recoup public money spent on their healthcare in the last years of life.

But the practice — including suing survivors and filing liens against the homes of poor families — is coming under attack in Sacramento.

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Since 1993, California has recovered more than $1 billion from Medi-Cal recipients' estates — and that number could swell as thousands more low-income people sign up for Medi-Cal as part of the Affordable Care Act. Almost a third of all Californians get some kind of assistance from Medi-Cal.

The $1 billion seized came from the estates of Medi-Cal recipients who died leaving behind assets, often their homes. If heirs do not voluntarily pay off the Medi-Cal debt, or win hardship exemptions, California officials file lawsuits to collect the debt in court.

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More: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB33