Mia Bonta
- Democratic
- Assemblymember
- District 18
Author
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to establish the Medically Tailored Meals Pilot Program and the Short-Term Medically Tailored Meals Intervention Services Program, to operate in specified counties and during limited periods for the purpose of providing medically tailored meal intervention services to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries with certain health conditions, including congestive heart failure, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or renal disease. Existing law, subject to implementation of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, authorizes a Medi-Cal managed care plan to elect to cover community supports approved by the department as cost effective and medically appropriate in a comprehensive risk contract that are in lieu of applicable Medi-Cal state plan services. Under existing law, community supports that the department is authorized to approve include, among other things, medically supportive food and nutrition services, including medically tailored meals. This bill would make medically supportive food and nutrition interventions a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program, through both the fee-for-service and managed care delivery systems, no sooner than July 1, 2026, upon appropriation and subject to federal approval and the issuance of final guidance by the department. The bill would require those interventions to be covered if determined to be medically necessary by a health care provider or health care plan, as specified. The bill would require the provision of interventions for 12 weeks, or longer if deemed medically necessary. The bill would require the department to define the qualifying medical conditions for covered interventions and delineate the services included in the definition of a medically supportive food and nutrition intervention. The bill would require a health care provider, to the extent possible, to match the acuity of a patient's condition to the intensity and duration of the covered intervention and to include culturally appropriate foods. The bill would require the department, upon appropriation, to establish a medically supportive food and nutrition benefit stakeholder group, with a specified composition, to advise the department on certain related items, such as the scope of the benefit, among others.
Vetoed by Governor.
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 0.).
Assembly Rule 77 suspended.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0.).
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (August 15).
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 64. Noes 0. Page 5409.)
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (May 16).
In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 1.) (April 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Coauthors revised.
In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.
Read first time. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| AB1975 | HTML |
| 01/30/24 - Introduced | |
| 06/05/24 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/15/24 - Amended Senate | |
| 09/03/24 - Enrolled |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| 04/12/24- Assembly Health | |
| 04/30/24- Assembly Appropriations | |
| 05/20/24- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS | |
| 06/10/24- Senate Health | |
| 06/21/24- Senate Appropriations | |
| 08/15/24- Senate Appropriations | |
| 08/18/24- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 08/28/24- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS | |
| 10/10/24- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS |
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