MEDI-CAL: Policy Institute Explains Program in New Detail

In an effort to shed light on the "complex system that is Medi- Cal" the Medi-Cal Policy Institute has issued a new publication, the Medi-Cal County Data Book, which provides "a clear picture of how the program plays out" in each of California's 58 counties. While the California Department of Health Services and the federal government control the design and requirements of Medi-Cal, each county is responsible for fulfilling the state's directives and administering the daily operations of the program. Each county also maintains individual procedures for running its program. The new book compiles and centralizes information to help individuals:

Understand who is enrolled in Medi-Cal at the local level;
track changes in Medi-Cal enrollment over time;
compare CalWORKS and Medi-Cal enrollment trends;
identify county Medi-Cal managed care models;
calculate program expenditures at the county level; and
conduct cross-county comparisons.

The book provides a state overview and brief summaries of each county including charts and graphs depicting demographics, number of recipients and county expenditures. Charts also compare counties in terms of population, births and deaths, percent of residents under the federal poverty level, types of recipients and annual expenditures. An abbreviated form of the report is available on the institute's Web site (www.medi-cal.org) (Medi-Cal Policy Institute release, 9/99). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.