FA R M L A B O R I N F O R M AT I O N B U L L E T I N
Voice of the Fields California
October 2013
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Volume 23, Number 10
Affordable Care Act and Covered California Enrollment
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hree years after Congress approved it, the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) began enrolling uninsured Americans into low-cost private insurance plans on October 1, 2013. In California, more than 1 million low-income residents will gain access to Medi-Cal’s lowto-no cost health coverage. With roughly 7 million Californians uninsured, the implementation of the ACA and enrollment through Covered California – California’s new private health insurance marketplace – aims to close the health coverage gap. The 2,400-page law is filled with more than a few benefits to Californians who previously avoided doctors and other health care for fear of the high cost. One benefit of the law is a set of consumer protection measures that restrict health insurance companies from instituting a cap on lifetime or yearly medical expenses, and denying health coverage for patients with preexisting conditions. For families, the Affordable Care Act also allows adult children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until they reach 26 years of age. Prior to the passage of the ACA, children were removed from their parents’ insurance
plans at 18-years-old or when they graduated high school.
The Individual Mandate An important part of the new law is called the individual mandate. This will require every United States’ citizen or resident to purchase health insurance. The idea behind this mandate is to have everyone participate in the health system. Immigrants who are living and working legally in the United States will be required to participate in the health insurance mandate. Undocumented people are exempted from this mandate. Here is a brief description of how the mandate works: If you currently have insuranceeither through your employer or through a plan you purchased outside of work- you do not have to pay a penalty or worry about the mandate because you are already covered. If you do not have health insurance now you
will need to get it or face paying a tax penalty beginning in 2014. If you fall into the uninsured group, there will be new ways to make it easier for you to find and pay for health coverage. Lower-income and many middle-class families will be eligible for government run low-to-no cost health programs like Medi-Cal.
New opportunities to access Medi-Cal For more than 1.4 million Californians, the ACA is opening a new door to Medi-Cal (California’s version of the Medicaid program, a government-funded program that assists low income families and individuals with medically necessary procedures, treatment and services). The health care law expanded requirements to receive low-to-no cost health coverage through Medicaid/ Medi-Cal. You may qualify for Medi-Cal, if you are a single U.S. citizen or permanent resident earning about $15,900 or less per year or $32,500 or less per year for a family of four. Medi-Cal provides Continued on next page