Plastic Medi-Cal ID Cards Introduced Locally

SANTA ANA — Orange County’s Medi-Cal patients Tuesday began using the state’s new plastic ID cards that allow doctors and other medical providers to check eligibility, eliminate fraud and speed reimbursements.

The new California Benefits Identification Cards eliminate the bother of answering questions about eligibility and waiting for paper cards, which were reissued each month, said Linda Monroe, a spokeswoman with Orange County’s social services agency.

The cards use a magnetic strip encoded with a patient’s medical coverage information. Doctors will run the new cards through a machine to link them with computer information in Sacramento.

Monroe said they also will give quick verification of the patient’s eligibility and whether a co-payment is required.

“They use them just like your ATM machine,” Monroe said.

Currently, clients receive new Medi-Cal paper cards each month with stickers showing the services for which they are eligible, Monroe said.

The stickers are peeled off and sent with the billing to Sacramento. If the stickers run out before the end of the month, the patient must ask the county for more. Monroe said the new card eliminates such problems.

In Orange County, people who have received the cards include 230,000 Medi-Cal recipients and another 42,000 senior citizens and blind or disabled residents who receive benefits under the federal Supplemental Security Income program.

Residents eligible for Medi-Cal include adults ages 21 to 64 who do not have dependent children and are not blind and disabled. They must meet an income requirement that, for a family of four, cannot exceed $1,100 a month, or they will have to pay a portion for health insurance coverage, Monroe said.

Beside Orange County, four other California counties have received the new cards--Santa Clara, Napa, Yuba and Butte.

The state expects to issue 5 million Medi-Cal cards in California by June, said a state Department of Health Services spokesman.