Medi-Cal: monthly maintenance amount: personal and incidental needs.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how annual adjustments will be calculated, leaving this aspect open-ended.

Medi-Cal: Monthly Maintenance Amount for Personal Needs

This law increases the monthly maintenance amount for personal and incidental needs of Medi-Cal patients from $35 to $50, with annual adjustments.

What This Bill Does

• Increases the monthly maintenance amount for personal and incidental needs of Medi-Cal patients from $35 to $50.
• Requires this new amount to be adjusted annually as needed.

Who It Names or Affects

• Medi-Cal patients in medical institutions or nursing facilities
• The State Department of Health Care Services

Terms To Know

Medically needy persons

Individuals who qualify for Medi-Cal based on their income and need for health care services.

Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)

A program that provides comprehensive medical and social services to elderly individuals in a community setting.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill's changes are subject to federal approval.
• It does not specify how much the annual adjustments will be.

Official Summary Text

AB 1649, as introduced, Ahrens.
Medi-Cal: monthly maintenance amount: personal and incidental needs.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Qualified individuals under the Medi-Cal program include medically needy persons and medically needy family persons who meet the required eligibility criteria, including applicable income requirements.
Existing law requires the department to establish income levels for maintenance need at the lowest levels that reasonably permit a medically needy person to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter, and for which federal financial participation will still be provided under applicable federal law. In calculating the income of a medically needy person in a
medical institution or nursing facility, or a person receiving institutional or noninstitutional services from a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly organization, the required monthly maintenance amount includes an amount providing for personal and incidental needs in the amount of not less than $35 per month while a patient. Existing law authorizes the department to increase, by regulation, this amount as necessitated by increasing costs of personal and incidental needs.
This bill would increase the monthly maintenance amount for personal and incidental needs from $35 to $50, and would require that the amount be increased annually, as specified. The bill would make these changes subject to receipt of necessary federal approvals.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF