#I lost my medical card california id for free#

When members went to doctors or other providers for certain types of services, such as vision or chiropractic care, they handed over one of the stamps, which the provider would stick onto the claim. In Medi-Cal’s early days, paper Medi-Cal cards were mailed to members every month with adhesive stamps on them, Rosenstein said. “We don’t want people to have difficulty accessing the services.” We don’t want people to be confused,” he said. The cost of the new cards is minimal because the design was created in-house and the department will use the same printing machines that produce the current cards, Williams said. When the new cards are distributed, they will go first to new enrollees and current enrollees whose cards have been lost or stolen, Williams said.Īfter that, they likely will be distributed to members when they renew their eligibility annually, he said. The department started its outreach efforts to providers last week, he said. Later, Williams backtracked, saying “we have not set a production date at this time” because the department needs to prepare doctors and other Medi-Cal providers for the change first. At the anniversary event, Rosenstein said they will begin rolling them out to members this summer. It’s unclear exactly when the new cards will be released. (Courtesy of the California Department of Health Care Services) The current Medi-Cal identification card, which debuted in 1994, marked technological progress because of its magnetic strip. “It’s appropriate the card looks closer to what a private insurance card looks like.” “Even people who have been middle-income in their careers but are between jobs now have Medi-Cal to fall onto,” Wright said. In 2014, as part of the Affordable Care Act, Medi-Cal expanded its eligibility to include people with higher incomes and adults without kids, among other changes. “It’s a recognition that this is no longer your grandmother’s Medi-Cal program,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Health Access California. Sometime in the coming year, that number is expected to top 14 million, said Norman Williams, spokesman for the state Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal, the state’s publicly funded health insurance program for low-income residents, covers 13.3 million Californians. Officials and health care experts said the new design reflects a changing - and growing - program that now provides health insurance to about a third of the state’s population. It doesn’t do anything the old card didn’t.Īnd of course, it doesn’t address some of the persistent problems that dog the program: complaints by medical and dental providers about low reimbursement rates, delayed access for some members to specialists and other care providers, and many other challenges. The debut of the new card seems mostly symbolic. “It will be something that’s much more friendly to people in Medi-Cal, something you can take pride in.” “The department is trying to bring this card into the mainstream,” Rosenstein said.

#I lost my medical card california id for free#

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