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Summary
California could make significant strides in increasing
enrollment of children eligible for Medi-Cal and Healthy
Families, California's health insurance program for low
and moderate income children, by simplifying and modernizing
the enrollment process through eliminating the application
requirement that families submit documentation of income.
Experience from other states has proven that when families
are allowed to certify income without producing documented
proof, more eligible families enroll. Moreover, income
documentation requirements can often be eliminated without
sacrificing program integrity, and many states that eliminate
documentation requirements also save substantial dollars
in administrative costs.
The concern for California in looking at implementing
a policy of self-declaration of income has been how to
do it while making the enrollment process easier for
families, maintaining the integrity of Medi-Cal and Healthy
Families, and ensuring the process is cost-effective
and streamlined for the state.
The 100% Campaign contracted Health Management Associates
(HMA) to develop a proposal for how California could
implement a policy of paperless income verification for
children applying for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.
In doing this, HMA was to explore the State's reaction
to a self-declaration policy, address any concerns raised
in the development of the proposal by using models from
other states to recommend strategies for how California
could implement self-declaration of income for children
applying for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.
Based on the feedback HMA received from California state
officials and information from other states, HMA recommends
in the report, Self-Declaration of Income Options
for California, that, at least on a pilot basis,
California develop an option of self-declaration of income
that is available to individuals that are willing and
able to provide Social Security Numbers (SSNs) for all
income earners in the family. Applicants that provide
SSNs for all income earners could be given the choice
of submitting income documentation with their application
or simply declaring their earnings. HMA also recommends
self-declaration of income deductions, such as child
care and child support expenses, and residency to fully
streamline the documentation requirements for families
applying for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.
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