Many Californians complain about trying to get issues resolved with Medi-Cal, the state and federal health program for the poor that now covers one-third of the state’s residents.
Other Californians similarly complain about Covered California, the state-run health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act.
Now imagine being in a family with members in each program. For those 600,000 individuals, getting and keeping insurance can be a quagmire.
“We hear a lot from our local programs about mixed-status families getting passed back and forth” between Covered California and Medi-Cal, said Jen Flory, senior attorney at the Western Center on Law and Poverty.