The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a motion to launch the "Keep Your Coverage" campaign, aimed at helping residents maintain enrollment in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program amid new federal work requirements.
The motion, authored by Chair Pro Tem and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, establishes a multilingual initiative to provide critical resources and connect beneficiaries to work and volunteer opportunities through American Job Centers.
"The County has a moral responsibility to do what it can to help residents enrolled in Medicaid and SNAP preserve their benefits – we cannot let people fall behind," Solis said. "Today's motion is about delivering on our due diligence help our residents understand how to keep their coverage and connect them to vital work and volunteer opportunities."
The campaign responds to President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," signed into law July 4, which includes nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP over 10 years. The reconciliation bill introduces new and expanded work requirements that could affect millions of Californians.
According to county officials, 13.4 million Californians rely on Medicaid for health coverage, while 5.4 million receive SNAP food assistance. Approximately 3.5 million Medicaid enrollees in California risk losing benefits due to work requirements, and 368,000 individuals could lose food assistance.
"When our neighbors' healthcare and food security are at risk, we must act swiftly and decisively," Horvath said. "Everyone deserves the dignity of knowing they won't lose care or food because of bureaucracy."
The campaign will include training for promotoras and community health workers to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate assistance to help enrollees maintain benefit coverage. Despite federal exemptions, new eligibility criteria may impact working adults, children, older adults, veterans and people with disabilities through administrative barriers.
"As this federal bill slashes away at programming that helps our most vulnerable to fuel increased immigration enforcement that only terrorize our communities, we know we must do all that we can to proactively protect our residents from these alarming policies," Solis said.
The initiative aims to ensure eligible residents can continue accessing healthcare coverage and food assistance programs amid the federal policy changes.
Edited by SMDP Staff