Historic Win for Foster Youth and Families: A New Medicaid Benefit Becomes Reality
Los Angeles, CA, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Special Needs Network is proud to announce a major policy victory that will change lives across California. Thanks to our leadership and collaboration with state partners, a brand-new Medicaid benefit – the Fee-for-Service Behavioral Health Treatment (FFS BHT) benefit – will launch statewide on July 1, 2025. The new provider enrollment portal is open so providers can be ready to serve patients day one. SNN will be ready.
'This is a monumental step forward for California's foster youth and families,' said Areva Martin, President of Special Needs Network. 'Creating a brand-new Medicaid benefit in record time shows what's possible when community advocates, policymakers, and government agencies work together. We are proud that Special Needs Network's leadership helped drive this historic change — and we remain committed to ensuring that every child gets the care and support they deserve.'
This breakthrough ensures that foster youth and all other children needing behavioral health therapy will finally have direct access to services under Medi-Cal, with more providers available and fewer barriers to care.,. Access will no longer be determined by whether a child has a managed care plan or FFS Medi-Cal or whether they are served by a regional center or not.
Creating this new benefit involved:
Securing federal approval for a new Medicaid State Plan.
Building a statewide provider enrollment system.
Establishing new billing codes and payment systems.
Ensuring access for smaller community organizations and paraprofessionals.
Eliminating referral barriers for families, physicians, and courts.
SNN played a critical role at every step, providing technical expertise, real-world feedback, and advocacy that state officials have called 'invaluable.'
Although the benefit launches July 1, work continues to refine the system and fully support providers, youth, and families. SNN will remain deeply involved in training, communications, system improvements, and monitoring to ensure a smooth rollout and lasting success. Priority processing is available through June 30. See the FAQs for providers here
'This win represents one of the fastest and most significant Medicaid benefit developments in California history — and it was fueled by SNN's dedication to children, families, and equitable access to care,' said Kristin Jacobson, a policy expert and long-time advocate who participated in this effort on behalf of SNN.
To submit a PAVE application, agencies need to visit the PAVE (Provider Application and Validation for Enrollment) system portal: https://pave.dhcs.ca.gov/
_________________________________________________________________________
(SNN) is a nonprofit grassroots organization responding to the crisis of autism and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities. We recognize the intersectionality of individuals with disabilities and that their fight for disability rights is inextricably tied to the fight for racial justice and the civil rights of all people.
CONTACT: Special Needs Network communications@snnla.org
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And most of them — around 92% — are working, caregiving, attending school or disabled. Earlier estimates of the budget bill from the Congressional Budget Office found that about 5 million people stand to lose coverage. A KFF tracking poll conducted in May found that the enrollees come from across the political spectrum. About one-fourth are Republicans; roughly one-third are Democrats. The poll found that about 7 in 10 adults are worried that federal spending reductions on Medicaid will lead to more uninsured people and would strain health care providers in their area. About half said they were worried reductions would hurt the ability of them or their family to get and pay for health care. Amaya Diana, an analyst at KFF, points to work requirements launched in Arkansas and Georgia as keeping people off Medicaid without increasing employment. Amber Bellazaire, a policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy, said the process to verify that Medicaid enrollees meet the work requirements could be a key reason people would be denied or lose eligibility. 'Massive coverage losses just due to an administrative burden rather than ineligibility is a significant concern,' she said. One KFF poll respondent, Virginia Bell, a retiree in Starkville, Mississippi, said she's seen sick family members struggle to get onto Medicaid, including one who died recently without coverage. She said she doesn't mind a work requirement for those who are able — but worries about how that would be sorted out. 'It's kind of hard to determine who needs it and who doesn't need it,' she said. Some people don't if they might lose coverage with a work requirement Lexy Mealing, 54 of Westbury, New York, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries, said she fears she may lose the medical benefits she has come to rely on, though people with 'serious or complex' medical conditions could be granted exceptions. She now works about 15 hours a week in 'gig' jobs but isn't sure she can work more as she deals with the physical and mental toll of the cancer. Mealing, who used to work as a medical receptionist in a pediatric neurosurgeon's office before her diagnosis and now volunteers for the American Cancer Society, went on Medicaid after going on short-term disability. 'I can't even imagine going through treatments right now and surgeries and the uncertainty of just not being able to work and not have health insurance,' she said. Felix White, who has Type I diabetes, first qualified for Medicaid after losing his job as a computer programmer several years ago. The Oreland, Pennsylvania, man has been looking for a job, but finds that at 61, it's hard to land one. Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for a continuous glucose monitor and insulin and funded foot surgeries last year, including one that kept him in the hospital for 12 days. 'There's no way I could have afforded that,' he said. 'I would have lost my foot and probably died.' ___ Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut contributed to this article.
