Changes that the State Has Placed Upon Most Vulnerable Population

My name is Lori McNally and I am a parent of an adult child with special needs. I would like to express the changes that the state of California has placed upon the most vulnerable population of people. The state of California in January of 2023 has changed the policies of their Medi-Cal program, forcing everyone from Fee for service to a Managed Care my daughter an adult female born with a disability was diagnosed with a very rare disease in 3/2020. At the time we had a managed care program "Kaiser". This managed care program misdiagnosed our daughter several times. My husband asked Kaiser if we can get an authorization out of their plan to go to Stanford, it was denied twice. The second time it would have gone through an appeal process but we had to sign of that we would legally not hold Kaiser responsible for misdiagnosing her (Sueing Kaiser). Of course, we never signed the paperwork. Our daughter always had fee for service, my daughter and her family can choose her doctors and not by a managed care that controls who she sees. I understand the reasoning behind this change but I think people in sacramento, should have surveyed families on what their needs are, not the state. I know of many families that are in the managed care programs and are fighting for their rights to see doctors and services. I am writing this because on T.V. and the news you hear that women have a right to choose what they want to do with their bodies and their health. They have a right to choose, but there is a double standard. That double standard is if you are a female under the Medi-Cal program now forced under Managed care programs you have been denied to choose your doctor of choice. As a family we are lucky that are daughter's primary insurance is Medicare and we are paying 500 hundred a month in securing a secondary PPO, Medi-Cal is the third insurance, which results in her able to see the same doctors (FOR NOW). Whether its the Primary, Secondary, or Third Insurance certain populations of people have been denied the right to choose between fee for service or a managed care plan. We all know what a managed care plan is, its simple a way for an insurance to deny or pend service NOT MEDICALLY NESSESARY. In ending to all this healthcare madness ALL people should have the right to choose what doctor or place they would like to go to especially if diagnosed with a rare disease and Stanford is the only Center that treats this condition.

–Mrs. McNally, Castro Valley