CalOptima, a health insurance agency that runs the Medi-Cal program in Orange County, has announced it will be terminating contracts of four Prime Healthcare community hospitals in the county.
Now, more than 300 CalOptima patients have signed an online petition, urging the company to reconsider its decision.
“It’s a matter of life and death coming from my house to here,” said Robin Wilson, a CalOptima patient and plaintiff in a lawsuit against them. “I don’t want to have to drive 5 miles away, or a place that I know won’t take good care of me.”
The impacted hospitals are West Anaheim Medical Center, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital and Huntington Beach Hospital.
Attorney Lloyd Bookman’s firm has filed a lawsuit against CalOptima on behalf of eight OC CalOptima members to try to stop the termination.
“Medical patients who are, by definition, lower-income folks, are going to have their community hospitals taken away from them, so that they may not be able to get access to those hospitals,” he said. “That’ll mean they’ll have to go further for care.”