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Meet rst Fil-Am one-star general of California National Guard

SACRAMENTO, California

– U.S. Army Col. Marlena A. DeCelle officially affixed the onestar rank of brigadier general on her uniform last March 31.

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Brig. Gen. DeCelle has many family members in the armed service who have served and are serving in various ranks.

Her father is a U.S. Navy veteran, two brothers are officers in the U.S. Army, and several uncles, aunts and cousins have served or are serving.

“I am the 5th generation to serve in the U.S. Army, dating back to the Spanish-American War,” DeCelle told Amanda H. Johnson of National Guard News.

Before the National Guard DeCelle served in leadership positions at the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 13th Corps Support Command in Fort Hood, Texas.

DeCelle left active duty in 2005 and was gainfully employed in the financial industry. However, she said she missed the service and “the brotherhood, the sisterhood and camaraderie.”

Decelle commanded 49th Military Police Brigade in March 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic she supervised soldiers’ operations at testing sites, food banks, and mobilization during civil unrest and wildfires. She is married to U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ken DeCelle. They have four children. (Inquirer.net)

Medi-Cal enrollees: Here’s...

PAGE A1 and requesting a fee to help people renew coverage. Don’t fall for it. No payment is required to renew your coverage.

But be sure to open your mail and respond to any official request for personal information. And be aware that updating your information could push you off Medi-Cal if your income has risen or if you have access to other insurance.

If you need help with any of this, especially that daunting renewal form, keep reading.

Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income residents, has embarked on a 14-month effort to reexamine the eligibility of its nearly 15.8 million members. It is part of the massive “unwinding” being undertaken by all state Medicaid programs after three pandemic years during which their rolls swelled. States had agreed, in exchange for extra funding from the feds, not to boot anyone except in cases such as fraud, death, or a move out of state.

On April 1, Medicaid restarted the annual eligibility checks that had been the norm before the pandemic. It will be the biggest shake-up in U.S. health coverage since the Affordable Care Act, though it cuts the opposite way: Between 8 million and 24 million people will likely be bounced from Medicaid nationally, including an estimated 2 million to 3 million in California.

To minimize the number of enrollees dropped unnecessarily, California’s Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal, has launched a $25 million advertising and outreach campaign that will send messages in 19 languages. The department is enlisting the assistance of nearly everyone who has contact with Medi-Cal enrollees: county offices, health plans, medical providers, advocacy groups, and volunteers. And it got $146 million in supplemental funding to help counties cope with the unprecedented number of renewal decisions.

But some patient advocates, health plan executives, and community clinic administrators worry it will not be enough to help all enrollees who could lose coverage if they can’t be reached or don’t respond — especially transient and homeless people and those with language or cultural barriers.

Less than two months before the start of the unwinding, multiple counties, including Fresno and Sacramento, reported staffing shortages and the need to train eligibility workers.

Laura Sheckler, deputy director of policy at the California Primary Care Association, which represents about 1,300 community clinics statewide, says the nearly $60 million in state funds earmarked for “navigators” to assist MediCal enrollees is not enough for her group’s members to provide all the help that will be needed. The

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