CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS NEWS REPORT
#0027-2006  March 3, 2006 Friday
Advocacy Without Borders:
Connecting people with disabilities & seniors to rights and unified action
1225 8th Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814  916/446-0013  Fax: 916/446-0026
Marty Omoto - director  email: martyomoto@rcip.com    website: www.cdcan.us
 
MEDI-CAL REGULATIONS
* Dept of Health Services Issues Revised Regulations
* Makes Changes To Medi-Cal Estate Recovery
* Impacts People with Disabilities and Seniors
* Deadline to Make Public Comment March 16

SACRAMENTO -  The California Department of Health Services issued yesterday proposed revised regulations that will make changes on how the State can recover the costs of Medi-Cal services from the property of certain persons who are Medi-Cal recipients - a process referred to as "estate recovery".  The deadline to make public comments on the proposed regulations, titled "Estate Recovery Regulations (R-32-00)" to the Department of Health Services is 5:00 PM March 16, 2006.  [Note: a detailed CDCAN Report covering details and impact of this proposed regulation will be issued Saturday, along with a possible action alert]   A CDCAN Disability Rights Townhall Telemeeting is scheduled next week on March 9, Thursday between 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM on these regulations and other Medi-Cal related issues.

The Department of Health Services last year proposed emergency regulations dealing with Medi-Cal estate recovery on March 25, 2005.  Those regulations were subsequently repealed, and the state laws dealing with estate recovery remained the same as it was prior to March 25, 2005.

Attached to this CDCAN report is the text of the proposed regulations and a copy of the proposed Department of Health Services Application for Hardship Waiver form:
Attachment 1 titled "TextofchangestoProposedRegulations(R-32-00)"
Attachment 2 titled "ApplicationforHardshipWaiverFormDHS6195"

Persons can also go to the California Department of Health Services website, and click on Medi-Cal Estate Recovery (R-32-00) for all the documents. Be sure to click on the second page of documents that contain the changes proposed.  The California Department of Health Services website for proposed regulations is at:
http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/regulations/searchRegulation.asp

IMPACT TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SENIORS
The proposed Medi-Cal estate recovery regulations will have major impact on seniors and people with disabilities who are Medi-Cal recipients, depending on their age, who survives them, what property they own, and some other factors.  A more detailed impact will be reported in the next CDCAN report after the proposed regulations are reviewed in more detail.

CALIFORNIA CODE SECTIONS IMPACTED
Title 22, California Code of Regulations
Sections 50960, 50960.2, 50960.4, 50960.9, 50960.12, 50960.15, 50960.21, 50960.23, 50960.26, 50960.29, 50960.32, 50960.36, 50961, 50962, 50963, 50964, and 50965

QUESTIONS REGARDING PROPOSED REGULATIONS
* Questions regarding the text of the proposed regulations: 
Joy Cheah Department of Health Services, Third Party Liability Branch at (916) 650-0564.
* Questions regarding the regulation process of this specific proposed regulation:
Lynette Cordell of the Department of Health Services Office of Regulations at (916) 650-6827,
or to the designated backup contact person,  Chuck Smith, at (916) 440-7693.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:
*Any inquiries or written comments, must refer to the proposed regulation's number, R-32-00
* In order to be considered, comments regarding the changes to the proposed regulations or to the additional material must be received by the Department of Health Services Office of Regulations between March 2, 2006  08:00 AM and March 16, 2006 by  5:00 pm, which is the close of the written comment period.  According to the Department of Health Services, any comments received after this date will not be considered timely.
Several Ways To Make Comments:
*  Persons wishing to use the California Relay Service may do so at no cost.  The telephone numbers for accessing this service are: 1 800 735 2929, if you have a TDD; or 1 800 735 2922, if you do not have a TDD. 
* By US mail or hand-delivered to the Office of Regulations, Department of Health Services, MS 0015, 1501 Capitol Avenue, P.O. Box 997413, Sacramento, CA 95899-7413.  It is requested but not required that written comments sent by mail or hand-delivered be submitted in triplicate
* By fax transmission:  (916) 440-7714
* By email to:  regulation@dhs.ca.gov (it is requested that email transmissions of comments, particularly those with attachments, contain the regulation package identifier “R-32-00” in the subject line to facilitate timely identification and review of the comment)
* By using the "Making Comments on DHS Regulations" link to the Department website at http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/regulations/ .
(* Upon request, this document will be made available in Braille, large print, and audiocassette or computer disk.  To obtain a copy in one of these alternate formats, please call or write:  Linda Tutor, Office of Regulations, MS 0015, P.O. Box 997413, Sacramento, CA 95899-7413, voice (916) 440-7695 and/or California Relay at 711/1-800-735-2929.
 
How To Receive CDCAN Capitol News Reports and Alerts
The California Disability Community Action Network is a non-partisan link to thousands of Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain and other injures, seniors and their families, community organizations and providers, direct care and other workers, and other advocates. These action alerts and news reports is for all of them.   If you would like to get on this distribution (and conversely, get off of  it) please send an email with that  request to:  martyomoto@rcip.com OR sign up via the NEW CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us  Sharing information is part of our organizing effort. Please feel free to forward or copy  this (attribution is nice but not necessary). We're all in this together!
MANY THANKS to Training Toward Self Reliance, UCP, The University Affiliated Programs, CHANCE Inc, Arriba, Strategies Toward Empowering People, Parents Helping Parents, Asian American parents groups, Resources for Independent Living and many other Independent Living Centers, several regional centers, People First chapters, IHSS workers, other self advocacy and family support groups California Disability Rights Inc , CA NAELA, developmental center families, and hundreds of individuals like Maureen Fitzgerald, Terri Lantz, Christal Hopkins, Lisa Brown, Anna Wang, Dennis Dishaw, Bob Benson, David Engberg, Connie Arnold, and so many others who through their support and contributions, make the non-partisan CDCAN reports and townhall telemeetings possible.  Thanks also to partnerships and the good people with the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and also the Department of Health Services, the Department of Developmental Services, Department of Social Services and the CA Health and Human Services Agency and other agencies, and the State Legislature and staff, the Legislative Analyst Office.  Good people who do good things can make a difference together.