The Need

In an effort to improve their own operations and access to coverage in the state, Covered California wanted to understand why some California residents made successful transitions from Medi-Cal to coverage through the health insurance exchange while others did not. 

The Work

Mary designed and executed a qualitative project with two steps:

1. a cross-agency “listening tour” of various policy-oriented and consumer-facing stakeholders at Covered California and Medi-Cal to understand their specific questions as well as their hypotheses about this issue;

2. in-person focus groups to explore these questions and hypotheses with so-called “Medi-Cal Transitioners” who successfully enrolled in Covered California and those who fell through the gap and ended up uninsured. This qualitative project worked in tandem with a related survey project. 

The Result 

While most hypotheses focused on the help people got enrolling, we learned that the bigger problem was centered on even getting people to the door. This research provided an impetus and direction for Covered California's work with these consumers — highlighting the need for more outreach, clearer communication about available subsidies, and proactive enrollment help. This work also informed recent California state policy on auto-enrollment. Additionally, Covered California and Medi-Cal learned together, were on the same page about the problem, and had mutual momentum to focus on these consumers. 

Note: Mary conducted this work while employed at NORC at the University of Chicago.