Working Poor in Fresno Gain Expanded Health Care Coverage
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Barbara Anderson
Source: The Fresno Bee, “Changes in indigent care rules ordered”
Date: 08/25/2010
The Fresno Bee reports: “Fresno County has made it too difficult for people with serious health problems to qualify for indigent medical care and must come up with new eligibility standards, a judge has decided. The decision, issued last week, could open the door for more of the working poor to get health care through the county. It's the latest outcome of a lawsuit filed two years ago to force the county to increase eligibility for its Medically Indigent Services Program. The program is for people without insurance and who are unable to pay for care themselves. The lawsuit sought to have the county base its eligibility limits on what it costs to subsist in the community, and to have income limits be flexible depending on individual circumstances. Last year, attorneys for Fresno County and for Central California Legal Services in Fresno and the Western Center on Law & Poverty in Los Angeles agreed to put the lawsuit on hold until a cost-of-living study could be done. The study was completed in February, and based on it, supervisors increased eligibility limits in May. . . . Superior Court Judge Jeff Hamilton upheld most of the new limits, agreeing that the county had taken the cost of living into account. But he questioned the upper limit. The county's decision to cut off eligibility for those who earn more than $1,788 a month failed to consider health-care costs incurred because of major health issues, he said. Medical costs for such individuals ‘may be enormous,’ Hamilton said. ‘Insurance may be unavailable or out of their financial reach," he said. "The eligibility standard must take into account that there will be indigents…who in fact have limited or no ability to pay for their treatment for serious illness or injury and cannot obtain insurance.’"