San Francisco nonprofit works to help residents -- including immigrants -- who are unaware of Medi-Cal eligibility
Health care for low-income Californians has expanded over the years through Medi-Cal, but the state is also disenrolling hundreds of thousands of people each month after hitting the pause button during COVID.
Kavya Chatterjee works for a nonprofit that is helping to enroll patients who lack health care coverage and are unaware they're eligible for Medi-Cal.
"There's been a lot of recent applications for those that are jobless and don't have income," said Chatterjee.
The state has been expanding eligibility, and recently fully opened it to anyone who qualifies, regardless of immigration status.
"A lot of our patients don't have access to computers. It's harder to use a website and go through a whole application on a phone. A lot of people don't even have data plans," said Chaterjee.
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program for low-income people. A single person has to make less than $20,783 annually to receive benefits.
A woman who asked not to be identified and spoke through an interpreter said she was not aware she could be eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal coverage.
"To be honest, I'm really grateful, because I never heard of this program or the services that were being provided. So I feel more comfortable and I appreciate it," said the woman, who is undocumented.
Esther Pinnell has been working at the non-profit Mission Neighborhood Health Center for 22 years. She and her family also had no other option but to get basic health services here, when they left Honduras in 1991.
"It makes me proud. It takes me back too. This is what I'm here for to give back to my community," said Pinnell.
The California Department of Health Care Services says about one-in-five Medi-Cal recipients have been dis-enrolled each month in a process called redetermination.
For example, if a family of four makes less than $43,056 one year, but then earns more than that the next, they would be disenrolled. But because other barriers have recently been removed, many who were disenrolled, could qualify again.
"Some of them may be reluctant to apply thinking they may not be eligible, but we have expanded so much in the Medi-Cal program over the last couple years," said Yingjia Huang of the California Department of Health Care Services.
State officials emphasize applying and enrolling in Medi-Cal does not impact a person's future legal status.
Roxy Castellon also came to Mission Health, as a child. She's now the Director of Patient Services, who has long pushed for coverage expansion.
"It's something that has been a long time coming but it's super exciting it's finally here. It gets us closer to having all Californians have access to health care," said Castellon.
Chatterjee says she's handling at least two to three applications every day. That's not counting other enrollments at the center.
"It's a great feeling when I see a patient I helped a month and a half later with their Medi-Cal card and they're excited, they're booking their next exam and they're pretty secure and feel safe that they have full health coverage," said Chatterjee.
Her work is helping some of California's neediest, to receive some basic services.
For 2024-25, the governor's budget proposed a total of $161.1 billion for the support of the Department of Health Care Services and programs.
DHCS' budget to maintain the expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal coverage to all adults regardless of immigration status increased to $3.4 billion total funds in 2024.
That compares to $1.4 billion total funds in 2023.