Health and Benefits Navigation

Help people get and keep Medi-Cal, CalAIM supports, CalFresh and income through the 2026 benefit changes, without deciding anyone's eligibility.

A self-paced field guide for case managers, outreach workers, shelter and interim housing staff, housing navigators and peer workers. Rich Los Angeles context. Skills that work wherever you practice. Not clinical, legal or software training.

What you'll be able to do

• Help people respond to renewal packets, returned mail and missing-information notices, and use the routes back in, such as the 90-day cure, if coverage closes. Eligibility workers make coverage decisions.
• Make a complete request to a Medi-Cal plan for Enhanced Care Management, housing Community Supports or Transitional Rent, and follow it to a decision.
• Help someone keep CalFresh now that homelessness alone no longer exempts anyone from the time limit.
• Screen early for the Medi-Cal work rule (no sooner than January 2027 in California) and help gather honest proof of an exemption or of qualifying hours.
• Make SSI, SSDI, HDAP and General Relief referrals that move a case forward, and keep a clear line on handling anyone's money.

Included in the download

• 61-page field guide with five lessons. Each lesson has a layer-by-layer view (federal, California, LA County, other places, and "check yours"), worked decisions, practice scenarios with model answers, self-checks with feedback, and numbered sources.
• Four printable one-page job aids: Coverage check card, Ask-the-plan referral sheet, Two work rules side by side, and Income referral map.
• A Check Yours worksheet (PDF and Word) for finding your county eligibility office, plan contacts, work-rule dates, waiver status and benefits advocacy where you work.
• Start Here and a license for the tier you choose: one named person, a site team of up to 15 named users, or an agency of up to 50 named users.

Before you buy

• Sources: built on 170 legal and policy claims, each traced to its source and marked by how fully it was read. The sources include Pub. L. 119-21 and CMS's June 2026 community engagement rule, 7 U.S.C. 2015(o) and USDA FNS guidance, SSA regulations, California Welfare and Institutions Code sections on Medi-Cal renewals, the work rule, immigration-status changes and HDAP, DHCS ECM and Community Supports policy guides, CDSS CalFresh time-limit letters, and LA County DPSS, HSH, DMH and DPH pages. Rules were checked in October 2026.
• What it isn't: clinical training, legal or immigration advice, an eligibility determination, a certification, or a replacement for your agency's policies or counsel. No agency endorsement is implied.
• Accessibility: the PDFs aren't certified PDF/UA accessible. The worksheet is also supplied in Word.

License options

• Individual Practitioner, $49: one named person.
• Program / Site Team, $199: up to 15 named users in one program at one address, or one established mobile or remote team.
• Agency / Multi-Site, $499: up to 50 named users across the programs and sites one organization runs directly (for a government buyer, one named department or bureau).

The license you choose is in LICENSE.txt in your download and governs use. Refunds follow the policy shown at checkout and applicable law.