Major Transition with Minor Disruption: Moving Undocumented Children from Healthy Kids to Full-Scope Medi-Cal

​In June, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 75, authorizing the expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal benefits to all individuals under age 19 who would otherwise be eligible for those benefits except for their immigration status. CalSIM data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, and the University of Maryland School of Public Health estimate that 250,000 children may be newly eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal as a result of this expansion.

Implementing the expansion will be complicated; although many undocumented immigrant children lack coverage, some do have coverage through restricted-scope Medi-Cal, Healthy Kids or other county-level programs, or Kaiser Permanente Child Health coverage. Children with coverage are at risk of having that service disrupted during the transition process. This brief gives goals for a successful transition from existing coverage, primarily the Healthy Kids programs, to full-scope Medi-Cal managed care.