California Medical Assistance: Medi-Cal
The original page describes Medi-Cal, commonly called the ‘white card,’ as California’s Medicaid program, funded by the state and federal governments. It pays some or all healthcare costs for many people with low income, especially families, children, people with disabilities and older adults. It advises pregnant women to apply and lists the former AIM program and its historical telephone number, (800) 433-2611, for people above Medi-Cal limits.
Historical Eligibility Standards
The archive explains that an applicant had to fit an eligible category, meet the applicable income and resource standards and be a California resident—meaning an intention to live in California, regardless of immigration status for residency purposes. It refers to multiple Medi-Cal programs with different rules, including former Section 1931(b) provisions that disregarded several hundred dollars of earned income for some low-income families.
The listed categories are: people under age 21; people age 65 or older; people who are blind or disabled under SSI standards; certain families in which a parent is absent, deceased, disabled, unable to work with medical verification or unemployed; pregnant women; approved refugees; nursing-home residents; and people with tuberculosis, subject to the immigration restrictions stated on the old page.
The page says recipients of SSI, CalWORKs, foster-care assistance, adoption assistance, IHSS or refugee cash assistance did not need a separate application and automatically received Medi-Cal. Losing one of those benefits did not automatically mean losing Medi-Cal. Income and resource rules still applied.
Income Limits Shown on the Original Page
The archived table is expressly dated April 1, 2002. It lists monthly amounts by household size for pregnant women and infants, children ages one through five, children ages six through eighteen and a separate maintenance-need standard. These figures are preserved in the Chinese page exactly as published but are obsolete and must not be used to determine present eligibility.
The article explains that countable income determined whether Medi-Cal was free or required a monthly share of cost. Different programs used different exemptions and deductions. It lists historical family deductions of $90 for each working adult; up to $175 in childcare for each child age two or older; $200 for each child under two; $50 of child or spousal support; education expenses; and business expenses of a self-employed parent.
For an older, blind or disabled person, the page lists a $20 deduction, a $65 earned-income deduction, one-half of remaining earned income and health-insurance premiums paid. It says Medi-Cal counted the income and resources of a spouse—or parents for a child—but not those of siblings, aunts, uncles or friends.
The page gives former special limits of $946 for one older or disabled person and $1,278 for a couple under the Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level Medi-Cal program, and former working-disabled limits of $1,790 for one person and $2,419 for a couple under the 250% Working Disabled Program. It lists old monthly premiums of $20–$250 for one person and $30–$375 for a couple and refers readers to the Health Consumer Center at 800-896-3203. All these dollar amounts are historical.
Share of Cost
If monthly income was too high for the free or low-cost programs described—and the person was not receiving CalWORKs, adoption assistance, foster-care assistance, SSI, IHSS or refugee assistance—the original page says the person had to incur or agree to pay a monthly share of medical costs before Medi-Cal paid the balance.
Share of cost was calculated month by month; when there was no medical bill, no share was due for that month. Prior medical bills could be used when the person remained liable for them, but the same charge could not be counted twice. A charge above one month’s share could be carried into later months. A decrease in income should be reported so the share could be recalculated.
The archive describes then-current continuous-eligibility rules for a pregnant woman through 60 days after birth and for a child under 19 for one year. It says welfare offices calculated shares differently for families, children, older adults, blind people and people with disabilities.
For someone under 65 who was neither blind nor disabled, the page’s historical formula began with gross monthly income, subtracted allowed childcare costs, $90 of work-related expense and paid health-insurance premiums, then subtracted the maintenance-need standard for household size. For someone 65 or older, blind or disabled, it began with unearned income, subtracted $20 and paid health premiums; if there was no unearned income, it subtracted $65 from earnings, divided the remainder by two, then subtracted the applicable need standard.
The page concludes that children above free Medi-Cal limits might have qualified for the former Healthy Families Program, and that parents, caretaker relatives and guardians with a share of cost might later have become eligible. This is a faithful translation of historical material, not a statement of current eligibility.