Health Care Reform Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention Planning Act: coordination with other programs.

Existing law, the Health Care Reform Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention Planning Act, requires the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with specified entities, to establish standardized single, accessible application forms and related renewal procedures for state health subsidy programs, as defined, in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would provide for the transmittal to a county human services department of information about an applicant initially applying for, or renewing, health care coverage using the single state application developed pursuant to the act, if the applicant consents to have his or her application information used to simultaneously initiate applications for CalWORKs and CalFresh, for initiation of the application. This bill would authorize the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to phase in implementation of these provisions under certain circumstances. The bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a workgroup of human services and health care advocates, legislative staff, and other specified representatives, to consider the feasibility, costs, and benefits of integrating application and renewal processes for additional human services and work support programs with the single state application described in the bill, and to provide, by July 1, 2013, specified details regarding the workgroup to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would require that the functionality necessary to implement the cross-application process be achieved by the expiration of a specified federal waiver. This bill would provide that those provisions would become inoperative under certain circumstances. By imposing new duties on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.