FROM NAMI CALIFORNIA ACTION ALERT: The purpose of this alert from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is to provide counties with information about AB 720, Statutes of 2013, Chapter 646, which added Penal Code sectio n 4011.11, and amended Welfare and Institutions (W & I) Code section 14011.10. AB 720 took effect January 1, 2014.

This legislation:

• Requires counties to suspend rather than terminate Medi-Cal benefits for all inmates, regardless of age, who were Medi-Cal beneficiaries at the time they became inmates of a public institution.
• Authorizes county Boards of Supervisors (BOS), in consultation with the county sheriff, to designate an entity or entities to assist county jail inmates with their applications for a health insurance affordability program; and to act on behalf of county jail inmates for purposes of applying for Medi-Cal coverage for acute inpatient hospital services provided to inmates off the grounds of the correctional facility.
• Clarifies that “The fact that an applicant is an inmate shall not, in and of itself, preclude a county human services agency from processing an application for the Medi-Cal program submitted to it by, or on behalf of, that inmate.”

Click here to see the Full Implementation Document

Thank you for your dedication to mental health advocacy!