CalOPTIMA Repays Start-Up Loans Early

CalOPTIMA, the county’s managed medical care program for poor people, has repaid $6 million in start-up loans, officials announced Tuesday.

The organization, which began operations last October, borrowed $3 million from Kaiser Permanente and another $3 million from the county’s Health Care Agency to cover 18 months of planning and development. Both loans were paid off ahead of schedule.

CalOPTIMA is a public agency overseeing care of about 240,000 Medi-Cal patients in Orange County.

Funded mostly by the state and federal governments, it is the largest Medi-Cal managed care organization in the state. It was designed to replace a fee-for-service system troubled by high costs.