Medi-Cal is a program that provides health coverage for low-income children, parents, seniors and persons with disabilities. Medi-Cal provides a wide scope of benefits including medical, prescription drug and mental health coverage. Eligibility for Medi-Cal is based on a number of factors:

	Individuals who are aged or disabled according to Social Security rules may qualify.
	Families with children who have a deprivation factor (one parent is deceased, absent, incapacitated, or unemployed) may qualify.
	Individuals and families must have real and personal property within program limits.
	Low-income children and pregnant women may qualify for Medi-Cal without regard to the amount of assets or property owned.
	Individuals without satisfactory immigration status may qualify for Medi-Cal coverage limited to emergency and pregnancy-related services.
	Individuals with specific health care needs may qualify for one of the special Medi-Cal programs. These include: Dialysis Tuberculosis services TPN (intravenous nutrition) services Certain services for minors Nursing facility coverage

If you are not eligible for Medi-Cal, where can you obtain health care?

A medical need or low income alone does not qualify a person for Medi-Cal. Persons who do not fit into one of the categories shown above, are not eligible. A person between the ages of 21 and 65 is not eligible for Medi-Cal unless he/she is disabled, blind, residing in a nursing facility, pregnant or is the parent of a child with a deprivation factor.

Persons who are between the ages of 21 and 65 years who need medical care and cannot afford to pay for it may receive treatment at a county medical facility. All counties have programs, administered and funded primarily by the county, that provide limited, free or low-cost medical services to those who do not qualify for Medi-Cal. In Contra Costa County, the Health Services Department administers the Basic Health Care program which provides a full scope of health care for adults and for children who do not qualify for full-scope Medi-Cal coverage. The Basic Health Care program maybe contacted at 1-800-771-4270.