Exploring Low-Income Californians' Needs and Preferences for Behavioral Health Care

With new and extended benefits under Medi-Cal, more low-income patients are seeking behavioral health and substance abuse services. Ensuring that these services are available when and where patients need them will be a challenge, but is also critical to achieving the type of whole-person care our safety net should strive for. This report reinforces the need to connect and simplify the systems that serve our state’s most vulnerable patients and show us that while significant impediments — including cultural and language barriers — remain, none of them are insurmountable.