Skip to main content

Utility menu

  • Help
  • Sign UP

California Health Care Foundation

  • About CHCF
  • Our Work
    • Topics
      • Behavioral Health
      • Data Exchange
      • Health Equity
      • Homelessness & Health Care
      • Maternal Health
      • Medi-Cal
      • Serious Illness & End-of-Life Care
      • Telehealth
      • Workforce
      • See All Topics
    • Programs & Resources
      • California Health Care Almanac
      • CHCF Innovation Fund
      • California Improvement Network
      • CHCF Health Care Leadership Program
      • State Health Policy
      • See All Programs & Resources
    • Collections
      • Listening to the Voices of Californians
      • Modernizing Payment to Community Health Centers
      • COVID-19 California Tracking Polls
      • Changes to Public Charge Rule
      • Role of Nurse Practitioners
      • Medi-Cal Explained
      • The Big Shortage
      • See All Collections
  • The CHCF Blog
  • Publications
  • Grants
  • Investments
  • Events
  • Media
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Topics
  • Projects
  • Programs & Resources
  • Collections
Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal is the state’s health insurance program for Californians with low incomes, including over 40% of all children, half of those with disabilities, over a million seniors, and one in five workers. CHCF reports provide data and analysis on how well Medi-Cal is serving Californians.
Sign up for CHCF updates on Medi-Cal
Collection

Medi-Cal Explained

Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal is the foundation of California’s health care safety net and a major component of the state’s budget. The Medi-Cal Explained series provides an overview of the program, including the people it serves, the services it provides, and how it is organized, managed, and financed.
Collection

California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal: CalAIM

Medi-Cal
Launched in late 2019, CalAIM, or California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, is a multiyear process led by the California Department of Health Care Services to improve the health outcomes and quality of life experienced by Medi-Cal patients.
CHCF Blog

How to Fulfill the Promise of Medi-Cal

January 22, 2020
Sandra R. Hernández
Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing, Behavioral Health
One of the most important steps California can take to live up to its social and economic potential is to improve the effectiveness of the enormously important Medi-Cal program.
Collection

Changes to Public Charge Rule

Medi-Cal
On August 12, 2019, the federal government finalized radical changes to “public charge” rules in an effort to disqualify many immigrants from gaining permanent residency in the US. The rule went into effect in California on February 24, 2020, even as multiple legal challenges continue to move through the federal courts. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service has announced that immigrants can seek testing, treatment, and prevention of COVID-19 without fearing immigration consequences due to public charge.
February 25, 2019

Briefing — Medi-Cal Explained: An Overview of Program Basics

Medi-Cal
February 25, 2019
This briefing provided an overview of the basics of the Medi-Cal program, including eligibility and enrollment, organization, oversight, and financing.
Collection

Improving Quality in Medi-Cal Managed Care

Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing
Everyone in Medi-Cal, regardless of where they live or their managed care plan, should have the same opportunity to get timely, high-quality care. But today access and quality of care varies widely within the Medi-Cal managed care system.
CHCF Blog

Explaining Medi-Cal

February 27, 2019
Kristof Stremikis
Medi-Cal
CHCF has launched Medi-Cal Explained, a project that will include papers and briefings describing how the nation’s largest Medicaid program organizes, finances, and provides care for Californians with low incomes.
Collection

Medi-Cal Facts and Figures — Almanac Collection

Coverage Trends, Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal is the state’s health insurance program for Californians with low incomes, including 40% of all children, half of all people with disabilities, and more than a million seniors. This collection of current and past editions of Medi-Cal Facts and Figures presents data on enrollment, benefits, financing, and access and use.
CHCF Blog

Expanding Medicaid Can Save Lives

August 12, 2019
Xenia Shih Bion
Medi-Cal
Stories That Caught Our Attention: A new study suggests that the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion reduced death rates among older adults with low incomes.
Publication

Poll Shows Californians’ Health Priorities for New Governor and Legislature

January 2019
Behavioral Health, Workforce, Medi-Cal
Access to mental health care is a top concern statewide.
CHCF Blog

What Matters Most to Californians

January 24, 2019
Kristof Stremikis
Medi-Cal, Behavioral Health, Workforce
A statewide poll reveals that Californians are deeply aware of the state's lack of mental health providers — and they're worried about how to pay for care.
CHCF Blog

Public Charge Rule Could Prompt Up to 455,000 California Kids Who Need Care to Leave Medi-Cal

November 15, 2018
Leah Zallman, Karen Finnegan
Medi-Cal
New research from the Institute for Community Health estimates that the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the public charge rule could prompt up to 455,000 California children in need of medical attention to leave Medi-Cal.
CHCF Blog

California Lawmakers Asked CHCF How to Improve Access to Care in Medi-Cal. Here’s What We Told Them.

February 8, 2018
Christopher Perrone
Medi-Cal, Telehealth
Chris Perrone, director of CHCF's Improving Access team, told the California Legislature how Medi-Cal expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has affected access to care for people who rely on the program.
CHCF Blog

Medi-Cal: A Program and a Population That Work

January 16, 2018
Kristof Stremikis
Expanding Health Coverage, Medi-Cal
While the federal government has opened the door for states to impose work requirements on people who use Medicaid, data show that a vast majority of nondisabled recipients are already in working families.
CHCF Blog

How Would Tax Bills Affect Medicaid? Some Useful Resources

November 3, 2017
Eric Antebi
Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing
With tax legislation now at the top of the congressional agenda, CHCF has put together some useful resources that explain the profound impact the proposals could have on the health care system.
Publication

2017 Edition — Medi-Cal Facts and Figures

December 2017
Medi-Cal, Coverage Trends
Medi-Cal is the main source of health insurance for one in three Californians. This quick reference guide provides an overview of the program's key features and describes how enrollment has grown from 2013 to 2017.
CHCF Blog

Data Show Medicaid Expansion Benefited Family Finances

November 17, 2017
Anne Sunderland
Health Care Costs, Medi-Cal
Researchers have found that the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion is associated with declining medical debt, fewer personal bankruptcies, improved credit scores, and reduced reliance on predatory lending practices.
Publication

Establishing a Per Capita Cap in Medicaid: Implications for California

July 2017
Manatt Health
Expanding Health Coverage, Medi-Cal
With Congress proposing fundamental changes to the financing structure of Medicaid through creation of a per capita cap, Manatt Health examines the implications for Medi-Cal.
CHCF Blog

With Federal Medicaid Cuts Looming, New California Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Program

June 20, 2017
Amy Adams
Medi-Cal
Political polarization hasn't prevented most Californians from agreeing on the importance of Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.
CHCF Blog

Medi-Cal Gets a Bad Rap

July 24, 2017
Avram Goldstein
Medi-Cal
A CHCF expert explains why a critique of Medi-Cal in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal showed a deep misunderstanding of the program that is a lifeline for one-third of Californians.
Publication

Moving Medi-Cal Forward on the Path to Delivery System Transformation

June 2016
Cindy Mann, Naomi Newman, Alice Lam
Medi-Cal
How can we ensure that Medi-Cal consistently delivers excellent access, quality, and patient experience? A Manatt report articulates a pathway for advancing Medi-Cal delivery system and payment reform.
Publication

Medi-Cal Matters: A Snapshot of How Medi-Cal Coverage Benefits Californians

September 2017
Harbage Consulting
Medi-Cal
A compilation of key facts and figures illustrates the breadth and scope of Medi-Cal coverage and how that coverage benefits Californians.
Publication

Physician Participation in Medi-Cal: Is Supply Meeting Demand?

June 2017
Janet Coffman, Margaret Fix
Expanding Health Coverage, Medi-Cal, Workforce
Enrollment in Medi-Cal surged between 2013 and 2015. This report looks at physician participation in Medi-Cal and implications for access to care.
CHCF Blog

Can California Find Better Ways to Pay for Medi-Cal?

March 30, 2017
Christopher Perrone
Medi-Cal
The Public Policy Institute of California, with support from CHCF, released a report outlining policy options the state could pursue to increase revenue for Medi-Cal.
CHCF Blog

How Medi-Cal’s Fiscal Balancing Act Could Soon Become More Challenging

March 18, 2019
Scott Graves
Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal’s best-kept secret is that even with the program’s rising enrollment and costs in recent years, its financial impact on California’s General Fund has been relatively small. That could change amid uncertainty over new financing issues.
View All
OAKLAND
1438 Webster Street #400
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: 510.238.1040 Fax: 510.625.9503
DIRECTIONS TO CHCF OAKLAND
SACRAMENTO
1415 L Street #820
Sacramento, CA 95814
Tel: 916.329.4540 Fax: 916.329.4544
DIRECTIONS TO CHCF SACRAMENTO

Footer menu

  • Home
  • About CHCF
  • Jobs @ CHCF
  • Grantee Resources
  • Recent Publications
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • CA Health Care Almanac
  • Health Innovation Fund
  • CA Improvement Network
  • Health Care Leadership
  • State Health Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Mail

© 2021 California Health Care Foundation.