SB 1147 – Suspension Rather than Termination of Medi-Cal

Youth Law Center sponsored this bill, which was enacted by the California Legislature in 2008. It provides for the suspension rather than termination of Medi-Cal for children who were Medi-Cal when they went into secure confinement (when became inmates of a public institution for purposes of Medi-Cal). This legislation represented an important step in assuring access to health care for eligible children, because it means that they no longer had to reapply for Medi-Cal upon release — a process that sometimes take months, and result in some eligible children simply falling off the rolls. SB 1147 was carried by Senator Calderon.