Covered California revealed that over 158,000 Californians maintained their Medi-Cal coverage through the enrollment program last year.
Image description: Covered California and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) hosting the AANHPI Media Roundtable.
At a briefing in Sacramento, California on June 4, a panel shared information on the transitions in the Covered California Enrollment Program. They included Dr. Barbara Rubino, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Covered CA; Cori Racela, Vice President of Programs of AJSOCAL; Yingjia Huang, DHCS Representative; Dr. Sasha Rarang, President-Elect of the Philippine Nurses Association; and Farhana Shahid, South Asian Helpline and Referral Agency, SAHARA.
After the COVID-19 pandemic ended in April 2023, the federal continuous coverage mandate was lifted, and Medi-Cal reopened its renewal process by reevaluating eligibility for more than 15 million members. Covered California and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which oversees Medi-Cal in California, began the Medi-Cal to Covered California enrollment effort in May 2023.
Covered California enrolls individuals in one of its affordable health plans automatically when they become eligible for financial assistance and lose Medi-Cal coverage. From June 2024, 158,100 Californians have managed to keep their health insurance under the program.
