Termination from Medi-Cal — Does It Affect Health?

To control rising health-care costs, California enacted legislation in 1982 that eliminated its Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) for its 270,000 medically indigent adults.1 Medically indigent adults are Medi-Cal recipients aged 21 to 65 who received state Medi-Cal benefits because they were poor and medically needy but were not eligible for federal assistance programs such as those for the aged, blind, or disabled or for families with dependent children. Although states are not required to provide health benefits to medically needy or medically indigent residents, 30 states provide some form of benefits as optional features of their Medicaid programs.2 In California, responsibility . . .