Settlement Reached in Medi-Cal "Debt" Reimbursement Case

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Health Care

SETTLEMENT REACHED IN MEDI-CAL "DEBT" REIMBURSEMENT CASE
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 12, No. 6, September 16, 1998

California and immigrant plaintiffs have reached a settlement in a federal court challenge to the state Department of Health Services’ policy of forcing immigrants and their families to repay Medi-Cal benefits they had properly received.

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit after the state had given them a notice that required them to repay Medi-Cal benefits they had received. The written notice, issued since Mar. 19, 1996, either implied or stated that the immigrant recipient or the recipient’s family owed a debt to the state. At the border and at airports, immigrants seeking to reenter the U.S. from abroad who had been sent the notice were told by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officers that if they did not pay their "debt," they would not be allowed back into the country. Others were told at consular and INS offices that they would not be given legal immigration status in the U.S. if they did not repay Medi-Cal benefits.

If it is approved, the settlement will require the state to notify all who have repaid benefits since Mar. 19, 1996, that they actually did not owe a debt to the state. Also, the state will be required to notify such people that they may reapply for Medi-Cal and that, if they are otherwise eligible, Medi-Cal will pay for medical services received during the three months before the date they reapply. Recipients of the original notice who stopped receiving Medi-Cal and want the state to pay for medical services they received more than three months before the date they reapply will be allowed to request a hearing on the issue.

Once the settlement is approved, the state will set up a mechanism for refunding class members who since Mar. 19, 1996, made a payment to reimburse the state for Medi-Cal benefits they received. To be eligible for their refund, class members must respond within 180 days of the date they receive notice about how to claim it. The state will verify the amount the class member paid and send the refund within four months. The refund claim notice also will advise class members to consult an immigration attorney if they have questions about the immigration effects of receiving a refund.

As part of the settlement, the state has agreed not to seek repayment by past or present immigrant recipients of benefits to which they were legally entitled, except in cases where the law permits repayment to be sought. The state also has agreed not to give out information about individuals’ usage of Medi-Cal except to the extent permitted by law; and it will provide benefit recipients a letter which makes clear that receipt of benefits does not incur a debt on the recipient, that the recipient is not required to repay benefits received, and that the recipient may volunteer to repay the benefits if he or she so chooses. As drafted, the letter clearly states that the Department of Health Services makes no representation regarding how repayment may effect the benefit recipient’s status with the INS.

The settlement hearing is set for Oct. 30, 1998.

Rocio, et al., v. Belshe, No. 97-CV-0463JM (LAB) (S.D. Cal.).