Temporary Absence

Individuals who are temporarily leave California for seasonal employment, attending college, medical care, or other personal reasons can still maintain California residency as long as they express intent to return.

Residency may be considered terminated when the client leaves California and takes any of the following actions in another state:

Buys, leases, rents a residence.
Becomes employed.
Obtains an out-of-state driver's license.
Applies for aid.

Managed Care and Temporary County Change

If the client is a temporary resident and is on aid under a mandatory aid code, the client may be required to enroll in one of the MMCHP offered in the new county of residence. MEDS, at renewal, reads the change as a new address and is unable to determine whether the address change is temporary or permanent. However, the Sending County’s MMCHP can request a temporary exemption for 60 days based on the client’s moving to a new location.

If the client is residing temporarily in another county that is NOT a managed care county, MEDS will dis-enroll the client based on the address change at MEDS renewal and the client will be placed into fee-for-service Medi-Cal. If the client returns to the home county within two months, the client will be automatically re-enrolled in the old plan by MEDS at the next Renewal.

Out-of-State Individuals

Individuals who are temporarily out of state and intend to return to California can meet residency requirements for MC eligibility purposes. A “temporary absence” from the state does not have a specific time-frame requirement but a 60-day absence can lead to presumption that a client is no longer a CA resident.

Individuals Temporarily Residing in California

To meet the CA residency requirement for MC, the client must be a resident of CA and cannot be commuting into CA to attend school. In general, an individual may not receive Medicaid/(Medi-Cal) coverage in more than one state at the same time. However, an individual can receive MC in two states during a transition from one state to the other, as long as the termination date is set in the previous state. All other MC eligibility rules and regulations apply.

Out-of-State Student MC Eligibility

If the individual. . .	Then . . .
Comes to CA from another state,	He/she has the option to apply for MC while residing in CA.
Was on Medicaid (the equivalent to MC in other states) in his/her prior state of residence, and is otherwise MC eligible,	The Medicaid must be discontinued in his/her previous state as soon as possible to meet the CA residency requirement for MC.
Is claimed as a tax dependent,	They must provide the tax household and income information when they apply for MC.

California Residents Temporarily Residing in Another State

A client may continue MC coverage in CA as long as the absence is temporary.

Eligibility for CA Residents Attending School Out of State

If the client. . .	Then . . .
Leaves CA temporarily and informs the county that he/she plans to return to CA,	His/her MC may continue (if otherwise eligible). In this case, the address in MEDS should remain as the CA address to which the client plans to return.
Chooses to discontinue MC in CA and apply for Medicaid in the state in which he/she is attending school,	The MC should be discontinued as quickly as possible with proper notice. The individual must follow Medicaid application rules in the new state of residence.
Is out-of-state and maintains CA MC coverage and needs services while he/she is temporarily absent from CA,	MC will only cover emergency services. Emergency Services are only covered in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Out-of-State provider must agree to accept MC and meet the requirements as detailed here. The individual can contact the Out-of-State Field Office at (415) 904-9608 for more information of Out-Of-State MC coverage.

Parents of Out-of-State Students

Parents and Caretakers of out-of-state students may continue receiving MC without change if the individual continues to meet the following criteria for each program:

Eligibility for Parents of Out-of-State Students

For MAGI MC

For Non-MAGI MC

The Primary Tax Filer’s household size is not impacted as long as the out-of-state student is still being claimed as a tax dependent.

The parent(s)/caretaker(s) will retain linkage, as long as the student meets the requirements.

Age requirement as detailed in Update 2014-23.

The parents are still primary caregivers/financially responsible for the student.

The student still “resides with” the parents/caretaker.

Out-of-County Individuals

When an individual is temporarily residing in another California county, CalSAWS must be updated so the correct address and eligibility information are sent to MEDS. Once the correct information is in MEDS, the individual will be discontinued from their current health plan and information will be sent to the individual to enroll in a health plan in the new county. Until a new plan is selected, the individual will have access to Fee-for-Service MC.