Medi-Cal is California’s part of a national health coverage program called Medicaid. Each state runs its own Medicaid program. The states have to follow certain national Medicaid rules, but they have flexibility in how they run their programs. The state Medicaid programs are paid for with a combination of county, state, and federal money.

You can think of Medi-Cal as a single program that you can qualify for in many different ways. The different ways to get Medi-Cal are called eligibility categories. There are over 90 eligibility categories, each with its own rules and requirements.

This site will explain the Medi-Cal benefit in more detail and describe four common eligibility categories. It will also explain how you can keep your Medi-Cal coverage if you lose it because of a change in income, and how Medi-Cal may help pay for the premiums of other insurance programs.