California Health Insurance Quotes and Blog

Moms to be unable to afford California health insurance coverage may qualify for the Access for Infants and Mothers Program (AIM) or else the Medi-Cal Income Disregard Program, both administered by the State of California.

If the Terminator’s controversial budget cuts somehow spare them, two health insurance options that financially struggling pregnant moms to be might target is AIM – The Access for Infants and Mothers program, a health insurance program administered by the State of California that is not a Medi-Cal program, and one that is, the Medi-Cal Income Disregard Program.

AIM provides full coverage private health insurance at low cost to pregnant women during pregnancy as well as a full two months beyond into post-natal. To be eligible, the family’s income must fall between 200% and 300% of the Federal Poverty Level amount as configured by the size of the applicant’s family. Property limits do not apply. Applications are accepted at local Social Service Agency Intake offices where an appointment with an Information Supervisor is appropriate.

Although the Income Disregard Program has a lower income threshold for eligibility, it involves considerably more "red tape." Pregnant women seeking "Income Disregard" coverage must apply in person by visiting one of the Social Service Agency Intake offices and filling it out an application or calling an Intake office and asking for a mail-in-Medi-Cal application. Again, the Information Supervisor is the key contact person. But to "disregard" your income, you first must prove that you don’t have any, more or less. Applicants must provide proof of identity, proof of pregnancy, proof of Social Security number, proof of immigration status, proof of California residency, and perhaps most crucially, proof of income. So expect to bring along a slew of documents to your interview.

Requirements are stringent because the Income Disregard Program is true to its name. To eligible pregnant women, this special Medi-Cal program provides prenatal and postnatal care to pregnant women at no cost. But pregnant women applying for this program must be fully evaluated by an Eligibility Worker (EW) at one of the Intake offices and determined to have a share of cost. A share of cost is roughly equivalent to a monthly deductible. It is the amount for medical expenses that a Medi-Cal beneficiary must pay or be obligated to pay prior to any reimbursement for medical expenses by Medi-Cal. Also, the net nonexempt family income must not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Level while eligibility can begin no earlier than the first day of the month the pregnancy is reported.

An 86-year-old cantankerous man’s worst fear is realized when he goes to his first Major League Baseball game and gets hit by a foul ball, but insurance obtained from a California Health Insurance agent softened the blow.

Dodger Stadium

Mickey Moosaka’s nephews and nieces were at their wit’s end. What activity would their cantankerous grand-uncle agree to participate in that the entire family might attend? He’d turned down bowling. “It reminds me of pinheads,” old Mickey said. He avoided restaurants. “Flies and their eggs on every plate,” he said, sickening anyone within earshot. Miniature golf emphasized the codger’s recently shrunken stature. “Don’t belittle me by taking me to a place like that,” he’d said to his thrifty niece Sappy in his rather squeaky Buster Brown voice. It was decided that “Uncle Mickey” would take in a Dodger game at the Stadium. Above all else, he enjoyed baseball, despite his consummate fears. He finally relented but warned, “I’ll probably get bonked by a foul ball off the bat of Manny Ramirez.” The geezer was a lifelong Dodger fan but had never been to a game in person.

The Moosakas got a nice row of boxes not far from home plate but well back in the upper deck. The seats seemed relatively safe. “These are great seats, huh Grumpa,” chirped twelve-year-old Matty to his beloved great-great-uncle. Matty was in his last year of Little League and played all-star caliber shortstop on a junior version of the resurgent Dodgers.

Fifty or sixty foul balls came and went, a few coming close, within a few rows, by the sixth inning, when the famous Dodger left fielder approached the batter’s box. “He’s going to conk me with a foul ball,” Mickey Moosaka predicted. The first pitch to Manny Ramirez was a fastball, which he took. The next two pitches were outside, so the count was 2-and-1 when the fateful pitch came. “This one hits me, I know it,” wailed old fearful Mickey. “No, it won’t,” said Sappy, fast becoming Mickey’s least favorite niece. “You worry too much.” But the next pitch, a curveball, was fouled back on an ominous trajectory. It seemed like the ball had eyes. Sure enough, it smacked old Mickey on the forehead with tremendous force, knocking him cold. Carried out of the ballgame on a stretcher, he was taken to the nearest hospital.

But Sappy was no sap. “Thank God we already had accidental coverage from a California Health Insurance agent,” she said. “It didn’t cost us a cent.”

“Thank God Grumpa Mickey didn’t die!” wailed Matty, placing priorities correctly.

“I guess,” Sappy was forced to agree.

Johnny Klinger and his wife Marissa each had great jobs at the same plastics plant with excellent bennies. But when each of them was laid off within weeks of each other, their joint COBRA grew fangs and Marissa called in Matt Lockard, a California Health Insurance agent.

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Johnny and Marissa had been an item long before they’d been married. They met at the Amalgamated Plastics factory in Merced and began dating almost immediately. She started as an assistant floor walker and he began his Amalgamated career as a trainee mold pourer. She’d learned to crawl before she walked, and he’d poured pudding as a boy, primarily butterscotch which had been his favorite. Sixteen years later, they both were in management; she as a chief floor walker and he as a mold taster. While both were still wage-earners instead of salaried personnel, their employer did pick up 90% of their health insurance premiums.

The layoffs caught the Klingers by surprise. “It’s the economy,” their boss Mr. Dykstra first told Marissa, and then her man. The withdrawal was painful from an emotional perspective as well as from a financial one. “I hate the taste of butterscotch now,” he opined. Marissa knew the plastic had had something to do with it, it only looked like butterscotch, but she kept quiet. Discretion is the better part of valor, she mused. Worse, besides the sudden lack of cash flow and the drain on their accumulated savings, there was something called COBRA to consider. It cost 102% of their policy at Amalgamated, but now they were laid off and …

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“I’m going to make some pudding. You can pour it dear,” Johnny said. She knew now that something was wrong. This was a crisis. He never lets me pour the pudding, she thought. “I’m going to make butterscotch,” he said. Those ominous words spurred her into action. “I’m calling Matt Lockard,” she said, “the California Health Insurance Agent who’s never been on TV.”

“Why?” Johnny queried. 

“Because,” and she wanted to break it to her husband gently, “our COBRA has grown fangs.” She added almost in a whisper, “Matt will know what to do.”

“It’s not like it used to be at Amalgamated,” he said in a genuine whisper.

She dialed. “Is this Matt Lockard, the California Health Insurance agent with the reputation for solving COBRA matters?”

“Yes, COBRA matters,” said Matt, simply being declarative. “I can help.” By the next week, Johnny and Marissa had health insurance again, and the price was reasonable.

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