The two most important things to do: Update your contact information with your county benefits office, and keep an eye out for any letters mailed from the county or state.<\/p>\n
You can update your information by calling your local county office<\/a> or online with a BenefitsCal account<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are the key changes, what they mean, and where to get help.<\/p>\n Changes for immigrants<\/p>\n Non-citizens \u2014 undocumented immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and people with pending immigration cases \u2014 are the group most affected, even those with a green card. The state has an immigration status chart<\/a> to help you check whether these changes apply to you. If they do, you\u2019ll get a letter.<\/p>\n Undocumented immigrantsAs of Jan. 1, immigrants over age 19 without legal status can no longer apply for Medi-Cal (children remain eligible).\u00a0Those already enrolled keep benefits if they renew on time. If they miss the renewal deadline and coverage ends, they have three months to reapply. After that window, they cannot sign up again.\u00a0Anyone who loses Medi-Cal may apply for emergency services. Those are limited to pregnancy, emergency visits and nursing home care.Starting Jan. 1, 2027, this group moves to \u201cfee-for-service\u201d Medi-Cal that limits some coverage. Doctors visits, prescriptions, and mental health treatment won\u2019t be affected. Confirm your doctor accepts this Medi-Cal type, or find a new doctor by calling 1-800-541-5555.Adults ages 19-64 must also prove they are working or volunteering at least 80 hours a month. Students, people with disabilities and parents with young children are exempt from the work requirement. Starting July 1, 2027, adults lose dental coverage. Those 19-59 will also pay a $30 monthly fee.Children and pregnant individuals will remain eligible for Medi-Cal. Promotoras, community health workers and legal aid groups can help answer questions about this.<\/p>\n Adults without children<\/p>\n About 5 million Californians gained Medi-Cal coverage when the Obama administration expanded eligibility to childless adults and those earning slightly above the federal poverty level. Now this group faces stricter requirements in order to keep their health coverage.<\/p>\n Work requirementsBeginning Jan. 1, adults 19-64 and many immigrants must prove at least 80 hours each month of working or volunteering, or half-time schooling.\u00a0Who\u2019s exempt: children, seniors, pregnant people, those who are disabled or have serious health conditions or addictions, people on Medicare, those recently released from prison, American Indians and Alaska Natives populations and some former foster youth.The state<\/a> will mail a letter if this applies to you. Most renewal packets come in a bright yellow envelope, but notices may look different. Respond quickly. Beginning next March, the state will check Medi-Cal eligibility every six months for adults ages 19-64 and many immigrants, verifying income, work status, and other requirements. Renewal may happen automatically; if it doesn\u2019t you will receive a letter asking for more information.<\/p>\n Seniors (65+) and people with disabilities<\/p>\n Starting July 1, 2027, seniors (65+) and people with disabilities cannot own more than $21,000 in assets, including savings accounts, cash and property other than a home and a car. For couples it\u2019s $31,000 total. This limit also applies to non-citizens. Your county benefits office or a local legal aid group<\/a> can clarify what counts; the state also has an FAQ<\/a> about the new limits.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re afraid of losing coverage, do these things right now<\/p>\n Not everyone will be affected, and some people won\u2019t need to do anything. If you\u2019re required to report work hours or other information, you\u2019ll receive a notice in the mail or through the BenefitsCal online portal<\/a> if you have an online account: Check both regularly.<\/p>\n The state doesn\u2019t yet have a timeline for initial notices, but advocates say the best move now is simply keeping your information current. This is especially important because the rules keep changing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so vital they watch the mail, look out for communications from the county, and are responsive to requests for information,\u201d said Jack Dailey, director of health policy at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego.<\/p>\n Bukola Olusanya, regional medical director for St. John\u2019s Community Health, talks to a patient in a mobile clinic van in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n If you get a notice: You should have plenty of warning before benefits are terminated \u2013 respond promptly to any notice of action.<\/p>\n If you get a notice that your benefits will be cancelled and you disagree with that decision, you can appeal and request a state hearing<\/a>, which \u201callows you to temporarily freeze an adverse action and keep your benefits while your appeal is being reviewed,\u201d says Alicia Emanuel, a staff attorney with the National Health Law Program.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve already lost coverage: You have 90 days to restore benefits without filing a new application. Submit the requested information in that window and, if you still qualify, you shouldn’t see a coverage gap. After 90 days, you’ll need to reapply from scratch.<\/p>\n Where to get free help<\/p>\n Promotoras \u2014 community health workers trained through groups like Vision y Compromiso<\/a> \u2014 can meet you in your neighborhood, explain benefits in plain language, and help with Medi-Cal applications. Rosa Lopez, a promotora in Long Beach, said many immigrants worry about losing coverage: \u201cI tell them you don\u2019t have status, don\u2019t worry. The first thing is your health.\u201d<\/p>\n Community clinics often have benefits counselors on staff, and legal aid groups offer free advice for confusing letters \u2014 call the Health Consumer Alliance at (888) 804-3536, or check its website<\/a>. The state also runs a helpline at (800) 541-5555 and keeps its website<\/a> up-to-date.<\/p>\n One more thing worth knowing: Medi-Cal eligibility isn’t just one door \u2014 there are several ways to qualify, based on conditions such as income, age, disability, or pregnancy. Before the state can terminate your benefits under one category, it must check whether you still qualify through any of the others. \u201cIt’s a really critical protection because sometimes an individual is in fact eligible through a different pathway,\u201d Emanuel said. And by law, Medi-Cal must provide free language assistance for people with limited English proficiency.<\/p>\n This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a tumultuous time for healthcare. Federal and state budget cuts are changing the rules for public benefits.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-424055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424055","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=424055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRefugees, asylum seekers, some green card holdersStarting Jan. 1, 2027, refugees, asylum seekers, humanitarian parolees, and survivors of domestic violence or trafficking move to \u201cfee-for-service\u201d Medi-Cal. They will still be able to see the doctor, pick up prescriptions and see the dentist, but they will no longer have a health insurance plan. Call 1-800-541-5555 to find a new doctor if your current one does not accept it.Six months later, this group will lose full-scope Medi-Cal and dental benefits, keeping only pregnancy and emergency care.<\/p>\n
\nMore frequent renewals<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785893530_415_.webp\")
<\/p>\n