Each year nearly 400,000 children with Medi-Cal health insurance lose coverage for a period of time and then must re-enroll. Often they still qualify for publicly subsidized healthcare but get kicked off because of administrative errors or lost paperwork. Sometimes their families miss the income cutoff by a couple of hundred dollars for a few months.
That’s a problem, advocates say, because early childhood comes with a host of vital health checks, vaccinations and developmental screenings. Without them, kids are at risk of falling behind on language development and social behaviors or missing early disease detection.
California tried to close that coverage gap in last year’s budget, but a November ballot initiative erased that investment even as it improved payments to doctors, clinics and hospitals that serve low-income households.
Now, children’s advocates are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to try again and provide money for all low-income children to stay on Medi-Cal without renewal requirements until age 5 — but they concede it may already be too late.
The federal government must approve California spending Medi-Cal dollars this way, but the Trump administration’s executive order on federal spending and attempted funding freeze signaled an intent to make deep cuts to a variety of social safety net programs.
Still advocates say they are moving forward with their request for Newsom.
“This is a clear opportunity to address systemic barriers that hinder Medi-Cal access,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of the Children’s Partnership, the organization leading the funding request.
Statewide, about 56% of all children rely on Medi-Cal insurance.
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