Community

After a Pandemic Pause, the State Will Restart Checking Medi-Cal Eligibility

California will soon restart its annual eligibility review for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, a process that has been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that starting in mid-April, residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for low-income people, will start to receive renewal notices in the mail. The process will be spread over 14 months.

Published

4 years ago

March 13, 2023

Oakland Post

State officials estimate that between 2 million and 3 million people could lose their Medi-Cal coverage.

By Ana B. Ibarra
CalMatters

California will soon restart its annual eligibility review for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, a process that has been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This means that starting in mid-April, residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for low-income people, will start to receive renewal notices in the mail. The process will be spread over 14 months. Some people may be automatically re-enrolled, but most people will have to fill out a renewal packet with information about their income and household size. People who no longer qualify or who fail to fill out the paperwork will lose their free or low-cost coverage.

State officials estimate that between 2 million and 3 million people could lose their Medi-Cal coverage. Ideally, people who no longer qualify for Medi-Cal will transition to a plan in the state’s insurance marketplace, Covered California, or to a job-sponsored health plan. Still, health advocates worry that many people could fall through the cracks or get caught in administrative hurdles and become uninsured, leaving them more likely to delay or forgo care altogether.

Currently, 15.4 million people — more than a third of the state’s population — are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the most ever, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. That’s partly a result of the increased need during the pandemic: As people lost jobs and wages, many also lost their medical insurance. From March 2020 to February 2023, Medi-Cal enrollment increased 16%, according to the department.

And as thousands of people became newly eligible for Medi-Cal, far fewer were coming off. Federal rules prohibited states from dropping people from government-sponsored insurance during the pandemic as a way to protect access to care. Now those federal rules are lapsing.

California’s renewal process will restart on April 1 and should be completed around June 2024, meaning people can receive their renewal notices and paperwork anytime during this time period. Those who in the past have renewed in the month of June will get their paperwork first, said Yingjia Huang, assistant deputy director for health care benefits and eligibility at the Department of Health Care Services. This phased-in approach will help spread the caseload for county offices in charge of the review, Huang said, and also allow enrollees who have renewed in the past to keep a similar timeline.

To qualify for Medi-Cal, people can earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level — that’s $20,121 a year for an individual or $41,400 for a family of four. Some Californians, such as pregnant women and people with disabilities, may qualify with slightly higher incomes.

People who were eligible for Medi-Cal at some point during the pandemic, but who may no longer qualify because their income has increased, will be automatically transitioned into a similar plan through Covered California, Huang said.

“The system automatically will review their eligibility for Covered California and Covered California will send out the enrollment notice to the member, informing them of their options and to pay the plan premium. So there’s no administrative burden on a member,” Huang said. “We’re trying to make sure that process is seamless and streamlined.”

Whether people successfully make the switch will largely depend on their ability to pay their new monthly premium.

Most people who buy from the marketplace receive generous subsidies, and some people don’t have a premium cost at all. Nearly half of the people enrolled in coverage through Covered California pay less than $50 a month, according to the agency. Still, even a $5 premium, along with the accompanying deductibles and copays, can discourage people from buying a health plan, said John Baackes, CEO of L.A Care, which offers Medi-Cal and Covered California plans to Los Angeles residents.

This auto-transition into Covered California will be a new test for the state. In the past, when people disenrolled from Medi-Cal, they were likely to go without coverage at least temporarily. Between 2016 and 2019, roughly 65% of people who dropped off Medi-Cal (Medicaid in other states) had a period of uninsurance, according to national research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

To help avoid unnecessary loss in coverage, state officials are asking enrollees to verify their contact information. The Department of Health Care Services estimates that about 12% of enrollees may have moved during the pandemic and are at risk of not receiving their renewal packets. People who have moved during the pandemic should update their address via the state’s KeepMediCalCoverage.org website or by contacting their local county office.

Health advocates are concerned that people won’t be able to access timely help, given the influx of calls and visits county offices may receive. The increased volumes compounded by workforce shortages can prove to be a barrier, said Tiffany Huyenh-Cho, a senior staff attorney with Justice in Aging, a legal aid organization that advocates on behalf of seniors.

“We need these county offices to be appropriately staffed because that is the first place people go with a question about eligibility,” Huyenh-Cho said. “We already hear reports of long wait times in general.”

Awareness that the renewal process is restarting is also key, advocates say. State and county officials have known that the Medi-Cal renewal process would restart at some point, even though the timeline was pushed back multiple times. The general public may be less aware. One national survey found that as of December, 64% of enrollees had not heard of the return to regular eligibility checks, though education efforts have been ramping up as the April 1 date gets closer.

“I wonder how many of these 15 million people even know they still have Medi-Cal coverage?” said Shannon McConville, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, noting that many people, especially if healthy, distanced themselves from routine care during the pandemic.

Baackes at L.A. Care said the onus of spreading the word about the renewal period also falls on the health insurance plans. L.A. Care, he said, has been beefing up its staff to prepare for the anticipated volume of calls and requests. It will also have 14 locations where people can go and get help filling out the hefty packet.

“The packet is 20 pages. It should be one page: ‘Where do you live? How much do you make? Thank you,’ but it’s 20 pages. So one of the things we’ll be doing is we’ll have these community resource centers spread across the county,” Baackes said.

Among his concerns is that the Medi-Cal renewal process will be taking place at a time when California is preparing for some key expansions and changes. Starting in 2024, more people will qualify for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits as the state opens enrollment to income-eligible undocumented people ages 26 to 49, the last remaining age group. About 700,000 people are expected to gain benefits through that expansion.

At the same time, the state will also commence new Medi-Cal contracts with insurers, which could result in health plan changes for some enrollees. That’s a separate process, Huang at the state department said, and will not require any action from enrollees.

But these different moving parts happening at the same time will create more traffic in county social services offices, Baackes said.

“It’s just unfathomable to me,” he said, “that the state thinks that this is all going to happen without huge confusion on the part of the people we’re trying to serve.”

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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Golden State Valkyries Become Bay Area Legends Winning WNBA Championship on Halloween Night

In only their second year as a franchise, the Golden State Valkyries captured the 2026 WNBA Championship with a 68-63 victory over the Atlanta Dream. Playing before a sold-out crowd at Chase Center on Halloween night, Gabby Williams delivered a historic 30-point performance to earn Finals MVP honors. The victory marks a rapid rise for the expansion team, which has already set league attendance records and surpassed a $1 billion valuation. Fans gathered by the hundreds of thousands this week to celebrate the new Bay Area legends, read more.

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2026

Post News Group

“We’re so proud,” said Mayor Barbara Lee who donned a violet wig on Wednesday at a rally honoring the Golden State Valkyries as the team celebrated its historic 2026 WNBA Championship in Oakland. Photo courtesy of NBC.

By Dr. Y’Anad Burrell Special to The Post

In only their second year as a franchise, the Golden State Valkyries became the WBNA 2026 Champions, with Gabby Williams named WNBA Finals MVP. A Halloween night movie of magic and there was no surprise that the game was sold out, with more than 18,000 fans inside Chase Center while thousands more packed the open space at Thrive Center from hours preceding the game through the final buzzer.

In the decisive Game 7, Williams delivered a legendary performance, scoring 30 points to lead the Golden State Valkyries to a 68-63 championship victory over the Atlanta Dream. Remarkably, 28 of her 30 points came in the second half, setting a WNBA postseason record for points in a half and earning her Finals MVP honors.

The team celebrated its victory on Wednesday with a rally in Oakland followed by a ferry ride to San Francisco’s Embarcadero and then a two-mile parade that drew about 400,000 fans.

Williams has become a symbol of the Bay Area’s impact on the team. Although born in Nevada, Williams has deep family roots in Oakland and has often said the city’s culture, community, and basketball traditions shaped her identity and playing style.

After signing with the Valkyries, she began calling the city home and noting that “there’s no Golden State without Oakland.”

The Valkyries have several ballers who made an impact on winning this series, including Veronica Burton, Tiffany ‘Tip’ Hayes, Kayla Thornton, Kaila Charles, and Cecilia Zandalasini.

Veteran center Kiah Stokes brought championship experience and defensive leadership when she signed a multi-year free-agent contract with the franchise on April 13. A former first-round draft pick out of UConn and a three-time WNBA champion with the Las Vegas Aces before joining Golden State, Stokes was recruited by head coach Natalie Nakae, with whom she had previously worked in Las Vegas.

Known as one of the league’s premier rim protectors and rebounders, Stokes quickly became a defensive anchor for the expansion franchise and played a major role in leading the Valkyries to their historic championship run.

The Valkyries have accomplished something extraordinary, proving that a new franchise can make an immediate impact both on and off the court. In their first year, the Valkyries became the first WNBA expansion team to reach the playoffs in its inaugural season and set all-time league attendance records. The franchise sold out all home games, reporting 18,064 attendees per game in both seasons — the highest attendance figures in WNBA history. The Valkyries’ success has also translated into extraordinary franchise value. After entering the league by paying a $50 million expansion fee, the organization generated record revenues and rapidly became one of the most valuable franchises in women’s sports, valued at over $! billion.

The WNBA Finals’ deciding game averaged 3.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA playoff game in league history and the most-watched finals game since 1999.

The record audience reflects the league’s growing popularity and has major implications for its future, including higher media rights value, increased advertising revenue, stronger sponsorship opportunities, rising merchandise sales, and greater ticket demand.

The Finals also featured sold-out arenas and record postseason viewership, demonstrating that the WNBA is expanding its commercial reach, attracting new fans, and strengthening its position as a major professional sports league.

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U.S. Rep. John Garamendi Honors local ‘Women of the Year’ at Annual Awards Ceremony

Congressman John Garamendi recently honored 52 remarkable women during his 13th annual Women of the Year ceremony in Benicia. The event recognized leaders from California’s 8th District for their significant contributions to public service, education, business, and community life. The honorees, including 16 women from West Contra Costa County, were officially commemorated in the Congressional Record for their dedication to the region. The diverse group includes veterans, educators, and community advocates who have shaped the local landscape through decades of service. Read more about these influential leaders.

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2026

Post News Group

Some of the Congressional Women of the Year. Photo courtesy of Congressmember John Garamendi's office.

By The Richmond Standard

Sixteen women from West Contra Costa County were among 52 honorees recognized by Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-08) at his 13th annual Women of the Year ceremony in Benicia on Oct. 23.

The 2026 honorees from Solano and Contra Costa counties were recognized for contributions to public service, education, business and community life.

“Every year, I’m honored to recognize the remarkable women of California’s Eighth District who serve as the backbone of our community,” Garamendi said.

Their contributions were also recognized in the Congressional Record. The following profiles summarize the ceremony remarks and supporting biographies.

Richmond

Annie King-Meredith

King-Meredith was honored for six decades of community service. An engineer and project manager whose professional career included defense-industry work, she has served organizations including the North Richmond Municipal Advisory Council and Shields-Reid Neighborhood Council. Her contributions also include environmental justice advocacy and artwork addressing social injustice.

Elana Bolds

Bolds was recognized for supporting Richmond youth and families and organizing community events. She established the annual “Put the Guns Down” event about 20 years ago in response to neighborhood violence. Through her organization, Visions of Hope, she brings together families, service providers, community leaders and public safety partners to address bullying and violence prevention.

Maria Del Rocio Martinez Luna

Martinez Luna was honored for her work supporting businesses and families along Richmond’s 23rd Street corridor. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school. A longtime Rigo’s Auto Sales employee and secretary of the 23rd Street Merchants Association, she helps organize community events, supports immigration information forums and works with local partners on neighborhood concerns.

Mary Ann Dawkins-Padigela

Dawkins-Padigela was recognized for her professional and community leadership. A U.S. Air Force veteran who served seven years as an aircraft mechanic, she later pursued graduate studies in marriage and family therapy and professional clinical counseling. As president of East Bay CAMFT, she supports professional education, networking and collaboration among mental health practitioners.

Dr. Mayra Padilla

Padilla, a dean at Contra Costa College, was honored for advancing educational equity and student success. A Richmond High School graduate, she began her higher education at Contra Costa College before earning a bachelor’s degree in applied physics from UC Davis and a doctorate in neuroscience from UC Berkeley. She later returned to CCC to lead initiatives expanding opportunities for students pursuing STEM careers.

Michelle Denise Milam

Milam was recognized for a public service career that began as a teenager with the East Bay Public Safety Corridor Partnership. As crime prevention manager for the Richmond Police Department, she has worked with government and community partners on violence prevention and homelessness response. Her congressional tribute credits her with helping secure nearly $30 million for outreach, shelter, treatment, encampment resolution and pathways to housing.

Nwaeze Nmereole

Nmereole was honored for supporting immigrant communities, young people and elderly residents throughout Contra Costa County and the greater Bay Area. Her volunteer work includes GED tutoring, vocational nursing exam preparation, computer instruction and youth mentorship. She also helps immigrants navigate services and assists elderly residents with transportation, prescriptions and groceries.

Shasa Curl

Curl was recognized for more than two decades of service to Richmond, beginning with the city’s redevelopment agency. She became interim city manager in November 2021 and permanent city manager in April 2022 before retiring in 2026. Garamendi credited her with helping secure more than $300 million in grants for infrastructure, housing and education, strengthening city finances and helping Richmond exit the state auditor’s high-risk designation.

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Community

Richmond Neighbors Put Pantry Power on the Map

Richmond Area Mutual Aid has released a new digital map identifying Little Free Food Pantries across the city to help residents combat rising grocery costs. These neighborhood outposts operate on a mutual aid model, encouraging community members to leave shelf-stable goods and fresh produce for those in need. While some locations began as small pandemic-era projects, they have evolved into essential hubs supported by local families, retirees, and nonprofit organizations. Organizers are now seeking new hosts to expand this autonomous network further. Read more.

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2026

Post News Group

A pantry at 34th street and Roosevelt avenue in Richmond. Photo courtesy of Achala Jayagoda.

By Kathy Chouteau The Richmond Standard

In Richmond, a small cabinet can carry a big message: dinner is here, no questions asked. Richmond Area Mutual Aid (RAMA) has created a map of current Little Free Food Pantries across the city. The neighborhood outposts encourage anyone to take what they need and leave what they can.

The map connects residents with pantries that may be as simple as a shelf, box or cabinet outside a home or business. According to RAMA’s website, the spaces can hold shelf-stable groceries and fresh produce that can safely spend some time outside refrigeration. The operating principle is as clear as the group’s motto: “Give what you can, take what you need.”

One of the map’s sites is near 34th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, where Achala Jayagoda and her family host a pantry that began as a Little Free Food Table during the pandemic. Her son, Eagle, founded it. The pantry has since grown into a lasting neighborhood resource. Amid the high cost of food, Jayagoda said supplies can disappear with startling speed.

“It continues to serve the community with everyone’s support,” Jayagoda toldTthe Richmond Standard. She said the people who contribute are not only nearby neighbors, but donors from elsewhere in Richmond and, at times, beyond the city. A few nonprofit organizations pitch in, too.

Jayagoda has also heard from retirees who collect end-of-day giveaways from grocery stores and bakeries and bring them to the pantry. Sometimes the deliveries include fresh food. At first concerned about leaving perishables out, she said it turns out those items move quickly. It’s a sign, in her view, of how urgently people need the help.

In fact, the pantry can be emptied within hours. Then the same community that uses it swings back into action. “Thankfully, the community helps restock it as quickly as possible so people can continue getting food,” Jayagoda said. As the holidays approach, she hopes that circle of giving will widen to reach more families.

RAMA describes itself on its website as a group of neighbors from Richmond and nearby communities working toward a place that is “safe, joyful and thriving.” The pantry project turns that broad aim into something concrete: a can of beans, a bag of rice, a loaf of bread—and a nearby place to share it.

Keeping each pantry going takes more than a sturdy box. RAMA’s website says every location needs an individual or organization willing to place the pantry on its property, and a team of stewards who can stock and clean it. A host may also serve as a steward. That local team is the point: RAMA wants each pantry to become an autonomous neighborhood hub supported over time by people who live nearby.

For residents ready to start one, RAMA says it can guide or support pantry construction and installation, share reclaimed food and help hosts adapt shelving or other materials into a workable setup. RAMA has announced free pantry build days Nov. 14 and Dec. 12; residents can email Richmondareamutualaid@proton.me for details.

Check out the Richmond pantry map below and get more information from RAMA at https://www.wegotusrichmond.org/pantries/. Visit RAMA on Instagram at @RichmondAreaMutualAid.