What Is Covered - CA Victim Compensation Board (2024)

If you’re eligible for compensation, CalVCB can pay for your recovery expenses. But we only reimburse for expenses not covered by another source.

Here are the types of expenses we pay for, and those we don’t.

On this page:

• Eligible expenses
• Non-eligible expenses
• Limits

Eligible expenses

CalVCB reimburses for the following expenses:

• Medical and dental treatment
• Mental health treatment or counseling
• Funeral and burial
• Income loss up to five years, if the crime disabled the victim. If the victim is permanently disabled, they may be reimbursed for longer.
• Income loss up to two years if the crime is human trafficking
• Support loss for dependents of a victim who is injured or dies
• Up to 30 days income loss for the parent or legal guardian of a minor victim who is hospitalized or dies
• Job retraining
• Home or vehicle modifications for a victim left permanently disabled
• Home security installation or improvement
• Relocation
• Crime scene clean-up
• Veterinary fees or replacement costs for a guide, signal, or service dog
• Round trip mileage costs to medical, dental, or mental health appointments
• Mental health counseling for minors who witness a violent crime

Download the Compensation Benefit Reference Guide for a complete list of eligible expenses.

Non-eligible expenses

CalVCB cannot reimburse applicants for the following expenses:

• Personal property losses, except for medically necessary items like eyeglasses and hearing aids
• Expenses related to prosecuting a suspect
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Expenses submitted more than three years after they are incurred. Exceptions are:
  • When the victim is still liable for the debt at the time the expense is submitted to CalVCB, or
  • The victim already paid the expense
• Expenses incurred while a person is*:
  • On parole, probation, or post-release community supervision for a violent felony
  • Incarcerated
  • Required to register as a sex offender

* This does not make a person ineligible, but it does stop payment for expenses incurred during the period above.

Limits

There are limits to what CalVCB pays, even for eligible expenses.

Dollar limits

The most CalVCB can reimburse a victim for is $70,000. For applications filed from January 1, 2001 to January 1, 2017, the limit is $63,000.

Service limits

Limits apply to some services.

Medical

We reimburse medical expenses:

• At the Medicare rate for services covered by Medicare
• At 75% of the billed amount for services not covered by Medicare
• At the Medicare rate for durable medical equipment (DME)
• At 80% for cosmetic surgery, prosthetics, hearing aids, and eyeglasses

Dental

We reimburse dental expenses:

• At 75% of the amount billed, or
• According to the Explanation of Benefits from your insurance

Dentists can request pre-approval for treatment.

Mental health

We have requirements and limits for mental health services:

• Bills must be submitted within 90 days of each date of service provided. If multiple dates of service are included in one CMS 1500 form, then it must be submitted within 90 days from the first service date on the bill.
• A Mental Health Billing Intake form is required for claimants initiating treatment on or after December 15, 2022.
• A Treatment Plan must be filled out at the beginning of treatment and keep in the claimants file unless one of the five criteria items to submit the form are identified.
• The Additional Treatment Plan (ATP) should be completed when the claimant is eight (8) sessions from reaching their authorized session limit. The complete ATP must be submitted within 90 days after the date a bill for sessions that exhaust the authorized session limit is submitted to CalVCB.

See more details on ourMental health servicespage.

Other caps

CalVCB has a cap on reimbursem*nt for:

• Funeral and burial
• Relocation

Some other services also have limits. See Compensation Benefit Reference Guide for a complete list.

Limits by kind of victim

Direct victims are eligible for compensation for all the covered expenses listed above.

Derivative victims are people affected by a relative or loved one being victimized. They can be compensated for some of these expenses, including:

• Mental health services
• Funeral and burial
• Support loss
• Wage loss
• Medical expenses for a direct victim who dies
• Crime scene cleanup
• Home security improvements, if the victim lived with them

Payor of last resort

CalVCB is a payor of last resort. This means CalVCB pays only for expenses that aren’t reimbursed by any other source.

Applicants must seek payments from other sources before seeking payment from CalVCB. These include:

• Medical, dental, or vision insurance
• Public benefit programs
  • Examples: MediCal, unemployment insurance, or disability benefits
• Auto insurance
• Workers’ compensation benefits
• Court-ordered restitution
• Civil lawsuit recoveries

Applicants are responsible for telling CalVCB about all reimbursem*nt sources for their losses. If an applicant was paid later by these sources, the applicant must repay CalVCB.

Related info

Who is eligible →

How to get compensated →