Confusion over Medi-Cal rules spurs supervisors to consider investing $250,000 in outreach.

About three months after the California Legislature passed a budget that will limit access to Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, to undocumented workers beginning Jan. 1 – and after President Donald Trump signed his “One Big Beautiful Bill” that is expected to further complicate access – the chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Chris Lopez, was at a community meeting in Greenfield with about 70 residents when he realized something was amiss.

An offhand comment by a woman caught Lopez’s attention. “‘We’re all losing our health insurance,’” he remembers her saying. He realized that people had missed the nuances of the news about Medi-Cal and what it means for people with varying degrees of immigration status.

“Actually, that’s not what’s happening. You’re still eligible,” he told her. She wasn’t the only one in the room who thought they were losing Medi-Cal, or the ability to apply for benefits. Lopez knew there was more work to do to counter the misinformation.

“I immediately started my wheels turning on how we could help address this,” Lopez says. “One small town in the Salinas Valley isn’t going to be enough. We need to reach further.”

Under the 2025-26 California budget, adults aged 19 and above considered to have “unsatisfactory immigration status,” or UIS, will be ineligible to apply for full-scale Medi-Cal beginning Jan. 1, 2026. (Those ages 18 and under can still apply. Adults can apply for limited benefits for emergency care and pregnancy-only services.) Anyone who is already enrolled will remain so, as long as they follow new federal rules under Trump’s bill that include verifying eligibility every six months, instead of the previous annual review, and comply with new work requirements.

Several days after the meeting in Greenfield, on Sept. 30, Lopez and his four colleagues on the Board of Supervisors raised the idea of a three-month community outreach campaign to help as many people as possible enroll in Medi-Cal before the Dec. 31 deadline.

It came after a grim report by the directors of the departments of Social Services and Health Services, and the CEO of Natividad, the county’s hospital, of the impacts to residents and county government from the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Up to 22 percent of residents, approximately 38,000, could lose Medi-Cal over four years. The County could lose millions in federal funds as well as clinic and hospital reimbursements.

Supervisor Luis Alejo asked the directors how quickly they could come back with a request for funds to pay for outreach, including through Spanish-language radio and social media. Elsa Jimenez, director of Health Services, seized the moment, requesting $250,000.

“Short term, these next three months are really critical to get people to stay enrolled and get enrolled,” she said. A formal request for the funds is expected to come back to the supervisors on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

Lopez says it’s part of the county’s mission to keep residents healthy, for themselves and the financial health of the county.