Minor Consent Medi-Cal

California Family Code provides that a minor under age 21 living in the home of parent(s) may, without parental consent, receive services related to sexual assault, pregnancy and pregnancy-related services, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol abuse, and outpatient mental health treatment and counseling. Minor Consent services are confidential, and parents are not to be contacted regarding their child’s receipt of these services by either the County determining eligibility or the providers rendering the services. Minor consent applicants are not required to provide a Social Security number nor can the County include a Social Security number or mailing address in the application. To do so would compromise the minor’s confidentiality. Minor Consent Program recipients do not have full-scope Medi-Cal benefits and are subject to service restrictions.

Minor consent services are categorized by age as follows:

UNDER AGE 12:

pregnancy and pregnancy-related care
family planning services
sexual assault services

AGE 12 YEARS through 20:

sexually transmitted diseases treatment
drug and alcohol abuse treatment/counseling
mental health outpatient care
pregnancy and pregnancy-related care
family planning services
sexual assault services

Methadone treatment, psychotropic drugs, convulsive therapy, psychosurgery, and sterilization are excluded from the services which a minor may receive without parental consent. The above-named services which a minor may receive on his or her own will be referred to as "minor consent services."

The Medi-Cal regulations and procedures are different for minor consent Medi-Cal coverage than they are for full-scope Medi-Cal coverage in the areas of:

parental informing of the child's need for medical care
parental consent to Medi-Cal coverage for the child
parental consent to medical treatment of the child, and
parental financial responsibility for the child's medical costs

State law provides that persons under 21 years may apply for minor consent services Medi-Cal without their parents' consent or knowledge. The statute further provides that the parents shall not be required to contribute to the cost of minor consent services. However, the parent's income and property must be considered in the eligibility determination for Medi-Cal if the child requests other medical services not covered under minor consent services.

State law requires that the parents or guardians of a minor receiving outpatient mental health treatment or counseling, or services for drug or alcohol related problems be contacted and encouraged to participate in the treatment. The parents or guardian may not be contacted if the health care professional treating the minor believes it would not be advantageous to the minor to have parents or guardian involved. If the parents or guardian do participate in the treatment, they are required to pay for their share of any services they participate in i.e., family counseling or individual/couple counseling for the parent(s).

Although all minor consent cases are confidential, the parent's or guardian's knowledge of their child's circumstance in no way affects eligibility for minor consent services, and no contact shall be directed to the parent(s) or guardian(s). A minor must apply for minor consent services. Parent(s) can not apply on behalf of their minor child. However, one parent may accompany a minor to apply for minor consent services when there is a need or desire to maintain confidentiality with the other parent. The confidentiality requirement is not waived in this situation. Notices of Action (NOAs) shlil not be sent to the home address, etc.

When minors present their minor consent Medi-Cal card to a provider, the provider verifies their eligibility through the Point of Service (POS) network. The eligibility verification system will return a restricted eligibility service message for the minor consent service entered into Medi-Cal Eligibility Data System (MEDS). The providers have been directed via the provider manual that minors are entitled to the category of service which is transmitted via the eligibility verification system. Providers are also informed that minor consent services are confidential, and parents are not to be contacted regarding their child's receipt of the requested services.