Bill Text: CA AB1839 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: California Health Benefit Exchange: enrollment options.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB1839 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1839-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: AB 1839	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Patterson
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chávez and Waldron)

                        FEBRUARY 9, 2016

   An act to add Section 100522 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health care coverage.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1839, as introduced, Patterson. California Health Benefit
Exchange: enrollment options.
   Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange
(Exchange) within state government, specifies the powers and duties
of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to
facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the
Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers.
    Existing law requires the board, among other things, to determine
the criteria and process for eligibility, enrollment, and
disenrollment of enrollees and potential enrollees in the Exchange
and coordinate that process with state and local government entities
administering other specified health care coverage programs, as
specified. The board membership is required to possess acknowledged
expertise in information technology system management, among other
areas, and to hire a chief technology and information officer.
   Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under
which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. The
Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid
program provisions. Under existing law, the department exercises a
specified federal option to extend continuous Medi-Cal eligibility to
children 19 years of age and younger.
   This bill would require the Exchange's enrollment system to be
upgraded so an enrollee whose family income qualifies him or her for
subsidized coverage, but only qualifies children in the household 19
years of age or younger for Medi-Cal, would be presented with the
option of either enrolling in a plan with subsidized coverage for
himself or herself and enrolling the eligible child or children in
Medi-Cal, or enrolling in a single plan for the family that preserves
the enrollee's subsidized coverage and purchasing unsubsidized
coverage under the same plan for the child or children under 19 years
of age. The bill would require the upgraded enrollment system to be
operational no later than July 1, 2017, and would require the chief
information and technology officer or his or her designee to oversee
the upgrading process.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 100522 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   100522.  (a) (1) The enrollment system shall be upgraded so an
enrollee whose family income qualifies him or her for subsidized
coverage, but only qualifies children in the household under 19 years
of age for Medi-Cal, shall be presented with the choice to elect
either of the following enrollment options:
   (A) To enroll in a plan with subsidized coverage for himself or
herself and enroll the eligible child or children in Medi-Cal.
   (B) To enroll in a single plan for the family that preserves the
enrollee's subsidized coverage and purchase unsubsidized coverage
under the same plan for the child or children under 19 years of age.
   (2) The upgrades to the enrollment system shall be operational no
later than July 1, 2017.
   (b) The process of upgrading the enrollment system shall be
overseen by the chief information and technology officer or his or
her designee.