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California

Eligibility¹

Children's Medicaid2	Separate Children's CHIP2	Pregnant Women3	Parents4
0-1: 200% 1-5: 133% 6-19: 100%	250%	200%	100%

Enrollment Procedures for Children⁵

Program Type6	Joint Application	Face-to-Face Interview	Asset Test7	Administrative Verification of Income8	Presumptive Eligibility
COMBO	Yes	No	No	No	Yes9

Renewal Procedures for Children⁵

Frequency of Renewal (in months)	12-month Continuous Eligibility	Joint Renewal Form	Face-to-Face Interview	Administrative Verification of Income8
12	Yes	No	No	No

Waiting Period

Waiting Period	Length
Yes	3 months

Enrollment Procedures for Parents¹⁰

Family Application	Face-to-Face Interview	Asset Test7
No11	No	$3,150

Renewal Procedures for Parents¹⁰

Frequency of Renewal (in months)	Face-to-Face Interview
1212	No

Enrollment Procedures for Pregnant Women¹³

Presumptive Eligibility	Asset Test14
Yes	No

Source: D. Cohen Ross & C. Marks, "Challenges of Providing Health Coverage for Children and Parents in a Recession," Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, (January 2009); updated by the Center for Children and Families.

Notes:
1: Income eligibility levels noted are in effect as of April 2009 and expressed as a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), without regard to income disregards or deductions.
2: Income eligibility levels for children's Medicaid includes CHIP-funded Medicaid expansions; separate CHIP programs are shown under children’s CHIP. In California, infants born to women on the Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) program are automatically enrolled in CHIP unless the child is enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance or no-cost full scope Medi-Cal. The income guidelines for these infants, through their second birthday, is 300% FPL.
3: Pregnant women's income eligibility levels are shown for regular Medicaid and CHIP (through the unborn child option). In California, the AIM program is available for pregnant women with income between 201 and 300% FPL. The program is funded using the unborn child option.
4: Parents' income eligibility levels are shown for parents without earned incomes (i.e., does not reflect earnings disregards used to determine income eligibility for working parents) applying for comprehensive Medicaid coverage based on a family size of three.
5: Data as of April 2009. Information applies to both Medicaid and CHIP, if applicable, unless otherwise noted.
6: Program type as approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reported in V. Smith, et al., "SCHIP Enrollment in June 2007: An Update on Current Enrollment and SCHIP Policy Directions," Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (January 2008), updated by the Center for Children and Families.
7: Asset limits noted are for a family of three.
8: In states with administrative verification, families do not have to provide verification of income, and such states generally verify this information by accessing data from other government agencies.
9: The presumptive eligibility process in CHIP is available to families with income up to 200% FPL and is only available through the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program.
10: Data as of April 2009. Information for parents refer to enrollment/renewal procedures under regular Medicaid; some states have expanded Medicaid for parents (through waivers or state funds) and procedures under the expansion may be different than the procedures for regular Medicaid.
11: The same simplified application can be used to apply for coverage for children and parents, however, parents must complete additional forms or take additional steps prior to an eligibility determintation for themselves.
12: Parents must submit a status report at six month intervals; a full eligibility review is done annually.
13: Data as of April 2009.
14: With the exception of Arkansas, all states with an asset test for pregnancy coverage rely on a standard limit regardless of family size.