Minor consent services
If you are under age 18, you can get some services without a parent's or guardian’s permission. These services are called minor consent services.
You may get these services without your parent or guardian’s permission:
- Services for rape and other sexual assaults
- Pregnancy testing and counseling
- Contraception services such as birth control (excludes sterilization)
- Abortion services
If you are 12 years old or older, can get these services without your parent or guardian’s permission:
- Outpatient mental health services and counseling, or residential shelter services, based on your maturity and ability to participate in your own health care
- HIV/AIDS counseling, prevention, testing, and treatment
- Sexually transmitted infection prevention, testing, and treatment including sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes simplex
- Substance use disorder treatment for drug and alcohol abuse including screening, assessment, intervention, and referral services
- To learn more, visit the Substance use disorder treatment services page in this handbook.
Services from an out-of-network provider that are not related to sensitive care may not be covered. To find a Medi-Cal provider who is outside the L.A. Care Medi-Cal network, or to ask for transportation help to get to a provider, call Member Services at 1-888-839-9909 (TTY: 711). For more information related to contraceptive services, visit the Preventive and wellness services section of this online handbook.
For minor consent services that are outpatient mental health services, you can go to an in-network or out-of-network provider without a referral and without pre-approval (prior authorization). Your PCP does not have to refer you and you do not need to get pre-approval (prior authorization) from L.A. Care to get covered minor consent services.
L.A. Care does not cover minor consent services that are specialty mental health services. The county mental health plan for the Los Angeles County covers minor consent services that are specialty mental health services. For specialty mental health services, call the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health at 1-800-854-7771 or your L.A. Care Behavioral Health Organization any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To find all counties’ toll-free telephone numbers online, visit the DHCS County Medical Contact List.
Minors can talk to a representative in private about their health concerns by calling the Nurse Advice Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays at 1-800-249-3619 (TTY: 711).
If you are able to consent to your own care without the consent of a parent or guardian under the law, L.A. Care will not give information on your sensitive care services to your L.A. Care plan policyholder or primary subscriber or to any L.A. Care enrollees without your written permission. You can also ask to get private information about your medical services in a certain form or format, if available, and have it sent to you at another location. To learn more about how to ask for confidential communications related to sensitive services,read the Notice of Privacy Practices section of this handbook.