California has one of the nation’s largest populations of non-English speaking residents, possibly only second to New York or Miami. For these people, going to the doctor or pharmacist has been a nightmare. Without being able to get their message across, some patients have actually been given the wrong medications or been misdiagnosed, simply because they could not be understood. There’s a new law in the state that will make this nightmare a thing of the past for most of these people. Every health plan in the state now must offer free language services, either by phone, video or through an on-site interpreter, for plan members who aren’t proficient in using English.
Change in Health Care Language Requirements First in Nation
California is the first state in the country to institute this kind of legislation and many state health organizations feel this will go a long way to change the fundamentals of the healthcare industry in the state. The 2000 census showed that upwards of 40 percent of the state’s population speak a language other than English at home. Because many people don’t use English in their daily lives at home, they can sometimes lose the few language comprehensive skills they’ve picked up at their workplace and through other employees at their job.
Details of the New Health Insurance Law
The new law requires health plan providers to have interpretative areas in doctor’s offices, pharmacies, laboratories and in the plan administrative offices. All official forms and other documents of the health plan must also be translated into languages that are spoken by the majority of the members of each particular plan. The state’s Department of Managed Health Care is responsible for ensuring compliance with this new law and is using undercover agents as secret customers and making appointments with agencies and requesting language services. Health plan providers who do not comply with the new law may find themselves faced with heavy fines.
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