Ads and infographics are popping up on social media, television and radio targeting more than 15.8 million Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal, the health insurance program for low-income residents. The ads urge them to update their health information and look for a bright yellow envelope in the mail.
It’s part of an effort to transition an estimated 2 to 3 million Californians who no longer qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the Medicaid health insurance program, to market health insurance policies through Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace.
The bright yellow envelope will be sent from the agency that administers Medi-Cal in your county about six weeks before the start of the next renewal month. It will contain paperwork telling enrollees if they are still eligible for the safety-net health insurance program or asking for more information about income and employment status.
We are sending letters to anyone we have identified who might need a new source of coverage, and then we are using the information that we have to tell them whether we believe they are eligible for financial assistance.
— Jessica Altman, director, Covered California.
States reexamine Medicaid eligibility annually, but agreed to pause the practice during the pandemic in exchange for extra federal funding unless an enrollee moved out of state or committed fraud. The Medicaid continuous enrollment provision ended on March 31, 2023, so states, including California, are reassessing if people still qualify.
Covered California will reach out to people who are no longer eligible for Medi-Cal directly through email, direct mail, and text messaging. People may lose eligibility because they make too much…
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