Mendocino County officials warn Medi‑Cal, CalFresh and IHSS changes will strain local health system

Sept. 10, 2025 — Mendocino County leaders, health‑care providers and the county’s social services staff told the Board of Supervisors at a special health‑policy workshop that pending state and federal changes to Medi‑Cal and related programs will reduce coverage and increase administrative strain across the county.

The workshop — organized by County CEO Darcy Antle and presented by county social services, behavioral health and public‑health staff, Partnership Health Plan, local federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and Adventist Health — focused on timelines and concrete impacts. “This is a workshop where we will be talking about the impacts of local, federal, and state changes to Medicaid healthcare systems and the outcomes,” CEO Darcy Antle said at the start of the session.

Why it matters: County staff said nearly half of Mendocino residents rely on Medi‑Cal and that changes already scheduled in 2026–2028 could shrink eligibility for immigrants, reinstate asset limits for some beneficiaries, increase renewal frequency, reduce retroactive coverage and add cost‑sharing that will raise uncompensated care and administrative costs for county departments, clinics and hospitals.

County social services officials laid out the likely near‑term changes and numbers. Rachel Ebel Elliott, deputy director for Employment and Family Assistance Services, said about 42,000 county residents receive Medi‑Cal and the county currently administers roughly 39,000 of those cases; the county department employs 51 eligibility specialists. “So, effective 01/01/2026, from California’s health omnibus assembly bill AB 116, there’s a reinstatement of the asset limit when making eligibility terminations for certain individuals,” Elliott said. She…