Welfare in California consists of federal welfare programs—which are often at least partially administered by state and county agencies—and several independent programs, which are usually administered by counties.
Some of the largest California-specific programs are:
MediCal, the California Medicaid program
CalFresh, the California Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP / Food Stamp program) CalWORKs, the California Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
Medi-Cal
The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal) is California's Medicaid program serving low-income families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults with incomes below 138% of federal poverty level. Benefits include doctor's office visits, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, dental care (Denti-Cal), vision care, and long-term care and support. Approximately 13.6 million people were enrolled in Medi-Cal as of August 2021, or about 34.6% of California's population.
CalWORKs
The California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is the California implementation of the federal welfare-to-work Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that gives cash aid and services to eligible needy California families.
CalFresh
CalFresh is the California implementation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program, which provides financial assistance for purchasing food for those in poverty in California.
State Supplementation Program
The State Supplementation Program (SSP or SSI/SSP), also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, CalFresh) cash-out program, is the state supplement to the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and provides state-funded supplemental food benefits to SSI recipients in lieu of SNAP benefits. SSI recipients in states that provide state supplements to SSI are ineligible for SNAP/CalFresh pursuant to .
Healthy Families Program
The Healthy Families Program (HFP) was the California implementation of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provided low-cost insurance that provides health, dental, and vision coverage to children who do not have insurance and do not qualify for no-cost Medi-Cal. As a result of the 2012–2013 budget deal, the HFP was discontinued and Medi-Cal requirements were lowered so that HFP patients would qualify for Medi-Cal. Nearly 900,000 children were moved from the HFP into Medi-Cal beginning in 2013.
Medi-Cal Access Program
The Medi-Cal Access Program (formerly known as the Access for Infants and Mothers Program) provides low-cost health insurance coverage to middle-income pregnant women who don't already have health insurance and whose income is too high to qualify for Medi-Cal.
Indigent programs
Since 1933, California law has required counties to provide relief to the poor, including health care services and general assistance.
General Assistance / General Relief
The California Welfare and Institutions Code states:
It has been said that the "provision of general assistance is inconsistent, fragmented, and widely differentiated", with aid ranging from $160 per month in Santa Barbara County to $360 in neighboring Ventura County. In Orange County, aid was $277 per month as of July 2012 and capped at three months per 12-month period for residents deemed employable.
California has provided some form of general assistance since the mid-1800s, and much of the language can be traced back to the Pauper Act of 1901. San Francisco Proposition N of 2002, colloquially known as Care Not Cash, was a San Francisco ballot measure sponsored by Supervisor Gavin Newsom designed to cut the money given in the General Assistance programs to homeless people in exchange for shelters and other forms of services.
County Medical Services Program / Medically Indigent Service Program
County indigent medical programs can be categorized as County Medical Services Program (CMSP) and Medically Indigent Service Program (MISP) counties. There are 34 CMSP counties and 24 MISP counties. The CMSP county programs are largely managed by the state, whereas MISP counties manage their own programs with their own rules and regulations. Many patients from both the CMSP and MISP county programs are expected to transition to county LIHP / MCE / HCCI programs and eventually to Medi-Cal / Medicaid when the ObamaCare provisions take effect in 2014.