During the COVID-19 public health emergency, a federal continuous coverage requirement prohibited states from disenrolling anyone from Medicaid. The end of the requirement in March 2023 marked the beginning of the “unwinding,” during which California resumed regular Medi-Cal redetermination processes.

During the unwinding, California processed nearly 11 million Medi-Cal renewals resulting in approximately two million people being disenrolled. Two-thirds of these disenrollments were for procedural issues (e.g. missing paperwork), not because the person was determined ineligible.

Between November 2023 and April 2024, the California Department of Health Care Services partnered with SSRS to conduct six monthly surveys to learn about the experiences of enrollees procedurally disenrolled. A number of survey respondents participated in a qualitative follow-up study to elicit further information about their perspectives, the impact of their disruption in coverage, and their suggestions for how the renewal process could be improved.