Plain English Breakdown
The official status indicates the bill passed both chambers but does not confirm if it has been signed by the Governor or become law yet.
Protect the Promise Act (AB-2077)
This proposed law would require California officials to verify Medi-Cal eligibility using reliable data sources before approval and set rules for finding and fixing errors.
What This Bill Does
- Requires verifying Medi-Cal eligibility with reliable data sources before approving enrollment, whenever those sources are available.
- Prohibits accepting self-attestation alone as proof for income, residency, identity, household composition, or citizenship/immigration status, unless federal law allows an exception.
- Orders the state department and counties to fully use specific data sets and verification systems.
- Requires cross-referencing beneficiary data with certain databases and reviewing information from specified federal and state sources.
- Mandates a one-time submission of enrollment data to the federal government.
- Requires maintaining a continuous process to identify changes in where beneficiaries live.
- Orders regular and systematic checks on eligibility (redeterminations) as specified by the bill.
- Requires identifying eligibility errors, correcting them, and recovering money paid by mistake.
- Establishes accountability measures, including reports to the Legislature and designating specific officials.
Who It Names or Affects
- The State Department of Health Care Services
- County agencies that handle Medi-Cal applications
- People applying for or enrolled in the Medi-Cal program
Terms To Know
- Medi-Cal
- California's health care program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services for qualified low-income individuals.
- Self-attestation
- When a person states something is true without providing outside proof or documents to verify it, which this bill would generally not accept alone.
- Redetermination
- The process of checking if someone still meets the rules for receiving benefits after they are already enrolled.
Limits and Unknowns
- These new rules must follow any exceptions allowed by federal law.
- Reimbursement to counties depends on a future decision by the Commission on State Mandates about costs.
- The text does not list specific dates for when these changes will begin.