The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 13, 2026 - Residential, day programs, and early intervention services have average annual growth rates below or equal to 19  percent, while respite and support and training services have average annual growth rates above 19  percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5157

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Health

Oct 16, 2025 - For example, DHCS plans to end an existing policy providing automatic coverage of drugs for existing users when the drugs are removed from Medi-Cal ’s contract drug list. Moving forward, users will need to receive prior authorization to continue using the drugs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5075

Building California’s Behavioral Health Infrastructure: Progress Update and Opportunities for the Proposition 1 Bond

Feb 5, 2025 - The remaining 19 small counties did not receive any awards in these rounds. In addition, there has been mixed success in siting behavioral health infrastructure in counti es where it did not exist prior to BHCIP.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4954

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Analysis

Mar 2, 2026 - One possible reason for our higher estimate is that our model reflects not only disenrollment among current enrollees, but also reduced enrollment flows over time and a persistent risk of disenrollment among eligible individuals due to added administrative burden.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5146

An Update on the Public Health Laboratory System After the Pandemic

Jun 12, 2025 - All laboratories must also report certain diseases of public health significance to state and local public health laboratories, a list of which is laid out in California regulations. Many public health laboratories also participate in laboratory networks, some of which have specific requirements for laboratory staffing and capacity in order to perform the appropriate testing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5056

The 2025-26 Budget: Understanding Recent Increases in the Medi-Cal Senior Caseload

Mar 6, 2025 - In the paragraphs that follow, we provide our analysis that results in ou r estimate of at least 165,000 seniors being added due to eligibility expansions since 2020. (As a consequence of this estimate, it follows naturally that we estimate up to 60,000  seniors being added due to the effects of continuous coverage, the unwinding, and unwinding flexibilities, for a total increase of 225,000 seniors due to policy changes.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5010

Considering Medi-Cal in the Midst of a Changing Fiscal and Policy Landscape

Oct 24, 2025 - …But Potentially With Added Complexity. Adding more flexibilities also could come with the potential downside of more complexity for beneficiaries and counties. For example, exempting high unemployment counties from work requirements could create more volatility.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5083

The 2025-26 Budget: CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports Implementation Update

Mar 6, 2025 - As shown in Figure  3 , all counties have at least eight Community Supports offered by at least one MCP and there are 19 counties where all Community Supports are available from at least one MCP. Unlike with ECM, there is no statewide estimate of potential eligibility for each Community Support.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5003

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - As a result, as Figure  2 shows, Medi ‑Cal comprises 19  percent of overall General Fund spending by the end of our outlook period —slightly lower than the 20  percent share in the 2025 ‑26 enacted  budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5092

The 2021-22 Budget: Analysis of the Medi-Cal Budget

Feb 16, 2021 - Like the administration, we assumed a set number of enrollees will be added to the Medi ‑Cal caseload each month in calendar year 2021 as a result of the COVID ‑ 19 p ublic health emergency, and that caseload will begin to decline in substantial numbers after the assumed end of the public health emergency in December 2021.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4373