Advocates for seniors are speaking out in praise of Governor Jerry Brown for recently signing a law protecting the assets of Medi-Cal recipients once they pass on. More from David Haldane…
If you’re old, poor, and on Medi-Cal, you no longer have to worry that the state will get your house.
“You know, here I am, I was already sick with two very severe illnesses, and I couldn’t work. And, plus, the burden of me sitting here and thinking, OK, it’s everything that I’ve worked for, my heirs would not get.”
That’s Pam Cortina, who’s on Medi-Cal and fighting cancer. Until recently she might have been targeted by a longstanding government policy placing liens on the assets of poor people to recover medical costs. But now Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the Med-Cal Estate Recovery Act that will change all that.
Linda Nguy, policy associate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, says it’s resulted in widespread relief. “It has been a barrier. That people have chosen not to enroll in Medi-Cal. To just forgo having health insurance, even though they do qualify.”
The new law takes effect on January 1st.
