Statistical Briefs
Statistical Briefs allow RASD to synthesize complex issues and to efficiently address several health care policy issues. Information on monthly eligibles is available on the Medi-Cal Certified Eligibles - Recent Trends webpage.
Statistical Briefs
California’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a federal and state partnership designed to provide low-income children with health insurance coverage. The program improves access to health care services and quality of life for nearly 1.3 million California children less than 19 years of age.
This Statistical Brief describes how California initially implemented CHIP and how it was later folded into Medi-Cal; the count of Medi-Cal’s certified eligible CHIP beneficiaries for the most recent reportable period; a demographic profile of the CHIP population; the trend in CHIP enrollment over the past 24 months; and Medi-Cal certified eligible CHIP counts by California county, Assembly district, Senate district, and Congressional district.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended Medicaid eligibility to previously ineligible, non-elderly adults with incomes at or below 138% of the Federal Poverty Level. In October 2016, 3,729,175 Californians between the ages of 19 and 64 were enrolled in Medi-Cal as a result of the ACA. In total, 9.5% of the statewide population – or one in 11 Californians – were newly enrolled in Medi-Cal pursuant to the ACA.
This statistical brief describes the Medi-Cal eligibility pathway for the newly eligible optional adult ACA expansion population, and applicable federal funding percentages; the historic growth of Medi-Cal’s ACA expansion population; the population’s demographic composition; and the percent of each county and congressional district’s population that is certified eligible for Medi-Cal’s ACA expansion.
Since 2001, California has been required by law to report the current number and proportion of Threshold Languages in the State. Broadly, Threshold Languages are those which are spoken at a high proportional rate within a geographic region of the state and as such may contribute to obstacles of understanding and access for those seeking mental health services. Threshold Language data are provided to counties on an annual basis through an informational notice. This brief includes that information for the Medi-Cal population for the month of January 2015.
Recent estimates show that, following eligibility expansions, the Medi-Cal program now provides health coverage for approximately one-third of the California population. The program’s population growth has been the subject of much discussion recently, but less understood is the significant degree of variability between counties concerning the proportion of their population that is enrolled in Medi-Cal. While the statewide average is one-third, some counties have more than half of their residents enrolled. The proportion of residents enrolled in Medi-Cal also varies by age group; for instance, nearly 60% of children ages 0-5 are enrolled statewide, but some counties see young child enrollment exceeding 80%.
This statistical brief presents data on the proportion of residents enrolled in Medi-Cal by county and age group, and also presents the proportion of each county's children ages 0-5 enrolled in the program, by county.
Following an immediate surge in enrollment due to implementation of the Affordable Care Act in January 2014, Medi-Cal’s non-citizen population has seen continued growth. In June 2014 nearly 2 million Medi-Cal eligibles were classified as non-citizens, representing more than 17% of the program’s total population. This statistical brief identifies Medi-Cal’s non-citizen population, provides an overview of eligibility requirements, describes the scope of services awarded, and discusses funding sources for various subgroups of this population. Where appropriate, Medi-Cal’s non-citizen population and the associated subgroups are compared and contrasted with the program’s citizen population on several dimensions.
In the 24-months covering 2013 and 2014, Medi-Cal experienced the largest enrollment growth in the program’s history. Between December 2012 and December 2014, the program grew from 7.6 million individuals to more than 12 million – an increase of 4.5 million, or nearly 60%. This growth, brought about largely by newly eligible adults and the transition of children from the former Healthy Families Program, also altered the demographic composition of Medi-Cal’s overall population.
Between the calendar years (CY) 2007 and 2011, the proportion of all in-state hospital births financed by Medi-Cal grew from 47.8% to 50.4%. Over this same time period, the aggregate number of hospital births financed by Medi-Cal declined by 6.8%, from 268,342 to 250,158. The Department of Health care Services' Research and Analytic Studies Division has prepared the following statistical brief to present Medi-Cal financed birth counts by county and aid code category for California resident hospital births that occurred between CYs 2007 and 2011. The full birth report is available on the Medi-Cal Birth Reports webpage.
Since 2001, California has been required by law to report the current number and proportion of Threshold Languages in the State. Broadly, Threshold Languages are those which are spoken at a high proportional rate within a geographic region of the state and as such may contribute to obstacles of understanding and access for those seeking mental health services. Threshold Language data are provided to counties on an annual basis through an informational notice. This brief includes that information for the Medi-Cal population for the month of December 2013.
Unfortunately, the size, complexity, and continued evolution of the Medi-Cal program have yielded a dense lexicon of terminology and methodologies for counting Medi-Cal eligibles. What follows is an in-depth description of how the DHCS determines who is counted as a Medi-Cal certified eligible, three different techniques for calculating that population, and the ways that this number can be applied to reveal the percentage of the California population enrolled in Medi-Cal. To provide context, a description of the demographic composition of the Medi-Cal population and recent enrollment trends are also included.
Medicaid is a significant financer of maternal and child health care services nation-wide. Each year California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, is responsible for financing between 41% and 46% of all deliveries in the state. This brief evaluates the associated hospital and physician costs for deliveries to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in calendar year (CY) 2006.
Between January and July 2010, about 1,495 pertussis cases were reported in California. Peaks of pertussis generally occur every 2-5 years, with the last peak in California occurring in CY 2005. This brief assesses the number of pertussis cases that were diagnosed among the Medi-Cal population from July 2008 through June 2010.
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