How to get young adult covered by Medi Cal?
Have you successfully gotten a young adult dependent covered by Medi Cal? My young adult daughter (21 in a few months) graduated from high school two years ago and has neither worked nor gone to school since then. There are substance abuse and emotional issues. My daughter currently is covered as a dependent on my health insurance plan. Recently she looked at a program which she and her therapist feel would be a good fit for her, but it turns out that its clients are almost exclusively Medi Cal patients. My insurance doesn't cover it. Other programs we've looked at are covered by insurance, but with a hefty deductible and co-pay that I, approaching retirement age, cannot afford.
I think it would be a step towards independence for my daughter to apply for Medi Cal (with help, of course). I would very much like to know the ins and outs of the process. As one example, while of course Medi Cal is a statewide program, are there specific offices that are easier to deal with than others? Generally, how long does the process take from application to decision?
Feel free to contact me directly. Thank you in advance!
Parent Replies
My son went through this process. MediCal is now part of the Covered California system. You need to get your daughter to go to that website and apply for coverage. Please note that she will need undoubtedly NOT qualify if she is still covered by your insurance plan; I can't recall if you can enter a date after which time she will not be covered, as that would be the time that she would become eligible. After she's answered all the questions, Covered California will respond that she does not qualify for subsidized premiums but that she "may" qualify for MediCal. What that really means is that her application for coverage has been ported over to the MediCal system, which after they review it and decide that she does in fact qualify, will lead to your daughter's getting the slew of papers, etc. about actual coverage. Once you get to that point is when you might want some help navigating the choices. We found the people at Lifelong Medical Care (multiple offices) to be very helpful.