BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 County officials estimate that as many as 50,000 residents could be affected by the changes, which tighten eligibility requirements for safety net programs that provide health coverage and food assistance to low-income individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom being homeless to readapting in society is already hard enough,\u201d said Shelly Redden, a Kern County resident who relies on Medi-Cal and food banks after recently overcoming homelessness.<\/p>\n
Redden, who now faces a pending disability, said the proposed requirements could create additional barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not able to just get up and go do things like regular people do and it\u2019s going to impact me a lot sometimes I can\u2019t even get out of bed without help so to volunteer that\u2019s going to be an added stress factor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The changes stem from HR 1, a federal measure passed under what has been referred to as the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill.\u201d <\/p>\n
The law introduces stricter rules for adults between the ages of 18 and 65, requiring at least 80 hours of work, education, or volunteer activity per month to maintain eligibility for certain benefits.<\/p>\n
In addition to work requirements, officials say recipients will face more frequent eligibility reviews, increasing the risk of losing coverage due to missed paperwork or deadlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe H.R. 1 changed that know having to do the redetermination every six months so people are not used to it and they could lose there coverage if they don\u2019t fill the paper work so we are going to try to make it as easy as possible,\u201d said Elsa Martinez, a Kern County official.<\/p>\n
County leaders emphasized that not all recipients will be impacted and say efforts are underway to minimize disruptions and help residents remain eligible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s those individuals that don\u2019t work, that don\u2019t go to school or don\u2019t volunteer or don\u2019t do any community engagement that the HR 1 is looking for individuals that don\u2019t go to work or go to school or volunteer so we are hoping that we can shrink that number to a very small number,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Still, for residents like Redden, the uncertainty is already causing concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concerns I have a lot that I\u2019m not going to be able to afford the food and I\u2019ll be having to rely on food pantries and I\u2019m barely getting out as it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The changes are expected to roll out during the 2026\u20132027 fiscal year. County officials are urging residents to stay informed and keep up with any updates to avoid disruptions in coverage.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 County officials estimate that as many as 50,000 residents could be affected by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,155,153,152,162],"class_list":["post-292414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-kern-county-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}