Benefits & Public Charge Update

Join the LIBRE Project on Dec 14th to learn more about updates to public charge. Watch on Facebook Live at facebook.com/countyofsanmateo at 5 pm for English and 5:30 pm for Spanish

Únase al Proyecto LIBRE el 14 de diciembre para aprender más sobre las actualizaciones de la carga pública. Véalo en Facebook Live en facebook.com/countyofsanmateo a las 5 pm en inglés y a las 5:30 pm en español.

Legal Aid SMC Impact Report 2022

Your support increases access to important legal services for low-income communities across San Mateo County. On this National Philanthropy Day, we're grateful for all the people who come together to make 'Justice for All' a reality. Click below to read about the importance of legal services for low-income communities!

Medi-Cal changes aim to expand coverage for low-income Californians

 By Tim Clark

In the last several years, California has proposed or implemented three major changes to Medi-Cal that could add half a million Californians to its safety net health coverage program. Those changes—in one case updating financial rules that had been unchanged since 1989—resulted after steady advocacy from various advocacy programs including the Health Consumer Center of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.

“These very welcome changes will make free or low-cost health care available through Medi-Cal to many deserving individuals, including seniors, persons with disabilities, and undocumented immigrants,” said Amira Elbeshbeshy, directing attorney and director of Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center.

One change, which went into effect July 1, increased the amount of assets a Medi-Cal recipient may have and remain eligible from $2,000 to $130,000 per person or family member. Under the legislation, the asset limitation will be removed entirely in January 2024. Eligibility limits based on income, as opposed to assets, were increased in 2020.

The second reform, “share of cost” reform, is “the most exciting for us,” Elbeshbeshy said.

Here is how it worked before this reform: Medi-Cal recipients were required to pay their “share of cost” if their income exceeded $1,564 per month or $18,768 annually. If their income was even $1 over that level, their “share of cost” or monthly deductible was approximately $940, about two-thirds of their income. Those limits had not been adjusted since 1989.

After years of lobbying, Medi-Cal advocates won $31 million in California’s 2022-23 state budget to address the problematic share of cost. The change is scheduled to go into effect in January 2025. Under the current Covid public health emergency, still in effect, the state is not taking any taking any actions that would downgrade coverage for current Medi-Cal recipients.

To illustrate the “share of cost” issue, staff attorney Camille Nguyen cited a recent client whose income is only $71 over the current limit. This woman was recently diagnosed with cancer and is about to start chemotherapy. Under the proposed Medi-Cal reform she would have a share cost of $71 rather than the $1,015 cost that she is currently responsible for.

Finally, as of May 1, Medi-Cal has added coverage for undocumented immigrants aged 50 and older. Previous changes covered children and young adults through age 25. The latest action leaves a coverage gap for undocumented individuals between ages 26 to 49. That last gap for undocumented immigrants is slated to be closed in 2024, but other coverage gaps remain in the complex Medi-Cal program.

To inform San Mateo County residents of these changes, the Health Consumer Center collaborates with other health law programs through the statewide Health Consumer Alliance as well as the Health Plan of San Mateo, the managed care plan for Medi-Cal recipients in the county, to outreach to the community.

Ironically, California’s worst public health emergency in decades indirectly boosted Legal Aid’s ability to work on legislative changes: Because of the pause on Medi-Cal negative actions for current recipients, the Health Consumer Center was seeing fewer Medi-Cal clients, freeing more of the staff’s time for legislative work and for other practice areas. The practice is now focusing more on medical debt, improper billing, and charity care under the federal Hospital Fair Pricing Act, working with San Mateo Medical Center, the county’s public hospital.

If the unit’s work sounds like a cross between legal work and social policy, it reflects the background of director Elbeshbeshy. After earning her law degree from Fordham and working for several years in New York City, she got a master's degree in Social Work from University of Southern California (USC).

“This is the perfect job to apply my education as a lawyer and a social worker,” she says. In her social work internship, Elbeshbeshy was told not to address certain legal issues—just leave that to the lawyers. Nowadays, she doesn’t hear that anymore.

31st Annual Legal Aid SMC Golf Classic

By Tim Clark

On a Monday in July, where do you find:

• Two score lawyers in shorts?

• Two athletic young women in golf skirts?

• A Googler in Tartan plus-fours (Scottish golf pants)?

• A Legal Aid department head serving as valet, then packing clubs to fill a foursome?

At the Stanford golf course, of course, for the 31st Annual Legal Aid Golf Classic, a fundraiser for the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.  “One of the appeals of the tournament is that it’s hard to get onto the Stanford course,” said Ronald Garrrity, co-chair of the event for his 20th year.

The 80 entrants had a shotgun start (every foursome started at a different hole), where some 40 electric golf carts cruised to various starting tees. Scoring was done on the Golf Genius smartphone app, with personal tech support for the less tech-savvy. At the shotgun start, a golf marshal for the course headed out with his small dog in the cart. Teams of four comprised not only attorneys but their clients, business associates and local caring individuals.

Players headed to the first tee were immediately diverted, as were all later golfers. The first hole was closed for irrigation work, so instead players went to Hole 19, a temporary diversion of barely more than 100 yards, shorter than most par 3s on the course.

On the course, liquid refreshments were stationed at approximately every fourth hole. Except, as one group complained, the beer was gone by the time their foursome arrived at beer stations. Another team from the same law firm, which had played just ahead of the thirsty golfers, admitted that perhaps they had left too few brews for their compatriots.

On the course, there were myriad competitions, in addition to lowest score in two divisions: Longest drive, straightest drive, closest to pin and an $8,000 cash award for a hole-in-one, a reward that went unpaid.

Then there was an unacknowledged competition for the day’s highest score (not a good thing in golf), which ended in a tie and thus a kind of victory. “Our firm always finishes last in this tournament,” said a golfer who had shown up early to rent clubs to play. “We weren’t last but tied for last.”  

Emcee for the awards dinner was the inevitable Tom Vacar, the KTVU-TV reporter who has handled that task for multiple Legal Aid tournaments, himself a lawyer. (Tom’s Channel 2 bio says he hasn’t taken a sick day since 1981, an enviable record.)

The dinnertime raffle excited almost as much interest as the prizes, understandable with one lucky player winning a Baccarat crystal Zodiac boar. One golfer, admitting that he was unprepared for his wedding anniversary the next day, thrilled slightly to win a $25 gift certificate from Godfathers Burger Lounge but then scored three bottles of Trefethen wine.

The prized competition was a team challenge for lowest score in two divisions, Senior and Regular. Not just lowest score but second, third and fourth lowest score. By the time the fourth place Senior prize was announced, there was barely a golfer over 50 who had not been awarded.

The games were not just in fun but to ensure that Legal Aid SMC can offer guidance and free legal representation when our neighbors need it most. By improving access to tenant protections, immigration relief, food assistance, and other safety net systems, we improve the quality of life for everyone in our community.

Legal Aid Society SMC ‘And Justice for All Awards Luncheon’ - A beautiful May Day at the Four Seasons at East Palo Alto May 13, 2022 – Celebrating the work for justice in 2022.

By Tim Clark
Photos by Katie Anne Rodriguez

For Hannah Gordon, her keynote to the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s 25th annual “And Justice for All” luncheon, was something of a homecoming. Four decades ago, her mother, Pat Kernighan,  had served as a staff attorney at the very same Legal Aid agency.

“Our duty is to make the world better and not worse. No matter how difficult the struggle, it is not for nothing,” Ms. Gordon, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of the San Francisco 49ers football team, told attendees at the annual awards and fund-raising luncheon at Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto, on a sunny lunch time May 13.

“We can only be as strong as our legal system,” said Ms. Gordon, who had originally committed to speak to the pandemic-cancelled 2021 luncheon.  

“Our country is supposed to work for everyone, and that is where you come in,” the Oakland native and Stanford Law School graduate challenged attorneys and staff as she ducked into the luncheon, resplendent in power pink pantsuit, from her maternity leave away from the 49ers. Her day job involves advising on all legal issues concerning the 49ers and Levi’s Stadium. She also leads the team’s community impact division, which supports co-ed youth football programs and STEAM education.

“The activism of your youth or your life is not so much an act of altruism but of patriotism. May you continue to struggle for your clients and by extension for our community and country. May you continue to win freedom for this generation; it is not for nothing.”

After Ms. Gordon’s glittering keynote, the rest of the luncheon focused on honoring winners of Legal Aid’s annual awards:

Hope Nakamura: Legal Aid’s directing attorney, with 34 years of service, received the George R. Corey-Linda M Gemello Award as an attorney who exemplifies a commitment to work every day to obtain justice for all. Recognized statewide as an expert on law around government safety net benefits, she oversees LASSMC’s practices in public charge and LIBRE, Linking Immigrants to Benefits Resources and Education Project. “Hope has shifted the legal practice and strategy in response to changes in the community and changes in the law,” said M. Stacey Hawver, Legal Aid’s executive director.

Jones Day: The Guardian of Justice award went to law firm Jones Day, which in late 2020, during the heart of the pandemic, reached out to Legal Aid to offer pro bono services to the Domestic Violence  Collaborative. Some 34 attorneys and professional staff have been trained to represent domestic violence survivors, and in 2021, Jones Day took on five challenging domestic violence cases. “I’m amazed at the strength and resiliency of the clients,” said Kapri Saunders, accepting the award for Jones Day. 

Joel Silver: A patent attorney for biotech firm Gilead Sciences, Silver received the Dorothy M. Wolfe Award for his pro bono work over the past eight years. “Joel handled 19 domestic violence cases for us while working as in-house counsel without the backing of a large pro bono support system,” said Stephanie Bilinski, Legal Aid’s pro bono director. “He has stepped in on cases that have become difficult, mentored other attorneys and done amazing work.”

Nuestra Casa Promotoras Team: The Natalie T. Lanam Award for service to Legal Aid went to the community outreach team at Nuestra Casa, a grassroots nonprofit in East Palo Alto. Initially focused on health care and adapting a model developed in Latin America, Promotoras has evolved to include a broader set of services, ranging from voter registration, census surveys, food, housing and health insurance to Covid prevention and vaccinations. “They are the bridge to our Spanish-speaking communities that provide the necessary services we often take for granted,” said Jonathan Garcia, supervising attorney for the LIBRE program. Named honorees included Amada Espinoza, Cynthia Mari Castro, Maria Teresa Lopez, Maria Guerra, Martha Rosales, Miriam Tarracena, Yudelzka Estebes, Martha Ortega, Isabel Ochoa, Araceli Agustin, Rosa Adame, Angelica Reyes, Adriana Agustin, Roselia Aguirre and Maritza Leal.

Shirley Gibson: A moment of silence was observed in memory of the late Shirley Gibson, Legal Aid’s directing attorney for housing, who passed away in 2021. ““Shirley was a brilliant visionary, weaving together complex strategies involving litigation, tenant outreach, community organizing, and public policy advocacy to further housing equity,” said Ms. Hawver. “And she was funny—how we miss her humor! We were honored and privileged to work with Shirley.”