Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/caloptima/)
Medical field teams will treat homeless people living on the streets after a federal judge pressured CalOptima — the county insurance plan for the poor and elderly — which also last week earmarked $100 million to homeless services.
County Supervisor and CalOptima Director Andrew Do is criticizing the county health insurance agency for the poor and elderly for being too slow in implementing medical teams that will treat homeless people on the streets, just as CalOptima is being asked to appear in a federal court hearing over homeless policies next month.
Homeless people now will be visited and treated by medical teams on the streets after the CalOptima Board of Directors unanimously voted to immediately begin the program throughout Orange County.
The probe centers on Do’s involvement in contract decisions at CalOptima, the county’s health care organization for low-income and elderly people.
The former Kaiser Permanente executive played a pivotal role in the founding and development of CalOptima, the county’s health plan for low income residents. He died July 14 after a prolonged illness at the age of 82.
Officials at CalOptima, Orange County’s health plan for the low income and elderly, are considering plans to use the property surrounding the agency’s headquarters to build a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing and permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals.
The board of CalOptima, Orange County’s $3.4 billion health plan for low income and elderly residents, will keep its existing structure after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a state bill into law last week.
CalOptima, the county’s health care plan for low-income and elderly residents, will now administer its own mental health care services, after the agency voted to phase out its $41 million-a-year contract with Magellan Health.
A contract dispute between Magellan Healthcare and CalOptima, the county’s health plan for low-income and elderly residents, may have left some of CalOptima’s 710,000 patients without mental health care when, for nine days in July, Magellan refused to process Medi-Cal payment claims.
In a public rebuke, one of Supervisor Andrew Do’s colleagues said Do has been pushing for the takeover because the health plan’s board refused to elect him chairman.