Advocates Allege Discrimination In California’s Medi-Cal Program

(By – Anna Gorman, Kaiser health News)

LOS ANGELES – A coalition of civil rights advocates Tuesday called for a federal investigation of California’s Medicaid program, alleging that it discriminates against millions of low-income Latinos by denying them equal access to health care.

The group claimed that Medi-Cal, California’s health program for the poor, reimburses doctors in the program so poorly that many won’t treat enrollees, leaving Latino beneficiaries to face lengthy delays and denials for care. In a civil rights complaint filed Monday with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, advocates asked the federal government to order Medi-Cal to raise reimbursement rates so that Medi-Cal enrollees would have the same access to care as people covered by Medicare and employer-sponsored health plans. Read more…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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