Medi-Cal: Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact amount and method of calculating employer penalties are not specified in the provided official source material.

Medi-Cal Employer Responsibility Fund

This bill creates the Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund, which collects penalties from employers whose full-time employees are enrolled in Medi-Cal to support the program.

What This Bill Does

• Creates the Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund to collect employer penalties specified in the Budget Act of 2026.
• Continuously appropriates the fund to the State Department of Health Care Services to prevent loss or restore health care coverage, benefits, or access to care following federal and state budget actions.
• Requires these provisions to take effect only if certain Medicaid provisions of federal House Resolution 1 are not repealed by January 1, 2027.

Who It Names or Affects

• Employers whose full-time employees are enrolled in Medi-Cal.
• The State Department of Health Care Services which administers the Medi-Cal program.

Terms To Know

Medi-Cal

A health care program for low-income Californians, funded partly by federal Medicaid funds.

Employer penalties

Fines that employers must pay if their full-time employees are enrolled in Medi-Cal.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill only takes effect if certain Medicaid provisions of federal House Resolution 1 remain unchanged until January 1, 2027.
• It does not specify the exact amount or method for calculating employer penalties.

Official Summary Text

AB 2729, as amended, Bonta.
Medi-Cal:
employer penalty: contribution.
Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions.
Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, imposes a certain assessment on an applicable large employer, as defined, that offers full-time employees and their dependents the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage, and for whom one or more full-time employees have been certified as having enrolled in a qualified health plan for which a premium tax credit or cost-sharing reduction is allowed or paid.
This bill would create the Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund to consist of new taxes and deposits, including employer penalties specified in the Budget Act of 2026. The bill would continuously appropriate the fund to the State Department of Health Care Services to fund the costs of administering the Medi-Cal program in a manner necessary to prevent loss of or to restore health care coverage, benefits, or access to care following the passage of federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21)and subsequent state budget actions. The bill would state that these provisions would become operative only if the Medicaid provisions of federal House Resolution 1 are not repealed prior to January 1, 2027. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require employers that employ individuals who are enrolled in
the Medi-Cal program to pay a penalty as a contribution to a Medi-Cal fund.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF