Elderly or disabled people making too much to qualify for Medi-Cal can still access the program if they pay a “share of cost” toward their medical bills, but are left only $600 a month for other expenses.
Advocacy groups are pushing to change the rules, arguing they shut out Californians in need.
“It’s really punishing for people,” said Tiffany Huyenh-Cho, the California director of Medicare and Medicaid advocacy for Justice in Aging, one of the groups that has pushed to change the requirements. “Six hundred dollars today is just not enough to live on.”
Two years ago, California state officials agreed to change the $600-a-month allocation for other needs to match 138% of the federal poverty level. (That figure, which changes annually, is the same one California generally sets as the income limit for Medi-Cal.) This year, that would amount to over $1,700 a month.
The new level was supposed to go into effect in January 2025, but the plan was jettisoned amid a state budget deficit. Groups that advocate for the elderly and disabled are now asking the state to make it happen in 2026.
In an October letter, Justice in Aging and other advocacy groups asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to allocate $33 million from the general fund in the next budget year and $80 million annually thereafter. In the past, state analysts had estimated the costs of the proposed change from $53 million to $151 million annually, half of which would be covered by federal funds.
