Medi-Cal: continuous eligibility.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded under federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law, until July 1, 2012, requires the department, subject to the availability of federal financial participation, to exercise a federal option to expand continuous eligibility to children 19 years of age and younger for 6 months, after which date the continuous eligibility period shall be from the date of a determination of eligibility to the earlier of either the end of a 12-month period following the eligibility determination or the date the child exceeds 19 years of age. Existing law provides that the provisions limiting continuous eligibility to 6 months shall be inoperative from March 27, 2009, until the date the Director of Health Care Services executes a declaration specifying that increased federal financial participation is no longer available pursuant to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) . Existing law provides that during period in which the provisions limiting continuous eligibility to 6 months are inoperative, the continuous eligibility period shall be from the date of a determination of eligibility to the earlier of either the end of a 12-month period following the eligibility determination or the date the child exceeds 19 years of age. This bill would delete the above-described provisions in effect until July 1, 2012. This bill would delete the delayed operative date of July 1, 2012, for the above-described provisions that provide that the continuous eligibility period shall be from the date of a determination of eligibility to the earlier of either the end of a 12-month period following the eligibility determination or the date the child exceeds 19 years of age, thereby making those provisions operative on and after January 1, 2011.