Issue Briefs

Centering Equity in Maternal Care: Unpacking California’s Medi-Cal Doula Services Implementation

July 21, 2025

The last ITUP publication, Centering Equity in Maternal Care: Unpacking California’s Medi-Cal Doula Services Implementation, explores the promise and challenges of the Medi-Cal doula benefit through a health equity lens.

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Examining Incarceration Drivers and Promising Solutions Issue Brief

June 18, 2025

This ITUP Fact Sheet highlights insights from Shasta, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties, rural communities navigating service gaps, social drivers of incarceration, and community-led solutions to support justice-involved populations.

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Key Takeaways: 2024 ITUP Regional Equity Collaboratives

October 14, 2024

This report highlights the valuable insights and community-driven solutions shared during the 2024 ITUP Regional Equity Collaboratives.

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Leveraging Data to Advance Health Equity and Success in CalAIM

April 4, 2024

This ITUP issue brief highlights the critical role of accessible and equitable data policy and infrastructure in the success of California’s CalAIM Initiative.

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Making Medi-Cal Work for California Farmworkers

December 7, 2023

This issue brief spotlights three actionable ways, identified from work with farmworker advocates and stakeholders, policymakers can use to make the Medi-Cal system work for California farmworkers.

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Expanding Health Coverage for California Farmworkers

July 27, 2023

This issue brief emphasizes three actionable ways policymakers can expand access to coverage for farmworkers.

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Addressing Digital Equity for Equitable, Accessible Health Care

June 1, 2023

The latest ITUP issue brief emphasizes the pivotal moment California is in to advance digital equity and broadband and connectivity.

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ITUP Broadband Bootcamp Report

May 15, 2023

This ITUP bootcamp report highlights findings from ITUP’s broadband bootcamp that will be used to inform the State’s Digital Equity Plan.

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Public Option in California (Winter 2020)

December 16, 2020

The latest ITUP Public Option ESSENTIALS refreshes past ITUP publications from 2018 and early 2020 to update and better inform policy discussions on what a public option might look like in California.

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Public Option in California

March 12, 2020

This issue of ITUP ESSENTIALS reviews through a California lens issues and concepts related to a state-level public option for individual coverage.

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California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM)

February 21, 2020

California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) is the newest ITUP Health Policy Essentials. This issue brief provides an overview of CalAIM, the related proposals in the Governor’s 2020-21 budget, and highlights potential issues and questions to inform the analysis and review of CalAIM currently underway.

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Notes From the Field: Care Coordination in California

February 18, 2020

This report highlights key findings from the 2019 ITUP regional workgroup discussions on care coordination in Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. The discussions were timely and informative and reflect the complexity of the care coordination challenges in California.

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Medi-Cal Waivers Discussion Guide

October 3, 2019

This discussion guide is a companion document to the Mapping the Future issue brief, and focuses on the waivers, and the state process for addressing the issues presented by the 2020 deadline, as policymakers and stakeholders consider the implications and next steps for Medi-Cal.

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Discussion Guide for the 2019 Regional Workgroups: Care Coordination

July 16, 2019

This discussion guide provides general background to support the 2019 regional workgroup conversations around care coordination challenges, best practices and policy recommendations.

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Mapping the Future of Individual Health Insurance

May 19, 2019

Mapping the Future of Individual Health Insurance and the companion publication, Mapping the Future of Medi-Cal, following up on the 2019 ITUP conference, take an in-depth look at the issues for these two coverage options likely to engage policymakers and stakeholders.

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Mapping the Future of Medi-Cal

March 12, 2019

Mapping the Future of Medi-Cal and the companion publication, Mapping the Future of Individual Health Insurance, following up on the 2019 ITUP conference, take an in-depth look at the issues for these two coverage options likely to engage policymakers and stakeholders in the near future.

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Covered California and Individual Health Insurance

March 12, 2019

Covered California and Individual Health Insurance is the newest ITUP Health Policy Essentials. Get the basics on California’s state-based exchange and the market for individual coverage.

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Notes from the Field: Behavioral Health in California

February 2, 2019

This report outlines background on Medi-Cal mental health and substance use disorder treatment in California, and highlights key findings from 2018 ITUP regional workgroup discussions.

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UPDATE: California Strategies: Covering California’s Remaining Uninsured and Improving Affordability

October 8, 2018

This updated issue brief analyzes policy proposals advanced in 2018 to move the state closer to universal coverage by focusing on the challenges many Californians face.

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California’s Health Care Safety Net

June 26, 2018

ITUP is pleased to release a new report, California’s Health Care Safety Net, the first in a new ITUP series, Health Policy Essentials, highlighting the basics on California health care programs and policy issues. This first issue brief focuses on the programs, providers and populations that make-up the state’s health care safety net for low-income and underserved communities.

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California Strategies: Covering California’s Remaining Uninsured and Improving Affordability

June 7, 2018

This issue brief analyzes policy proposals advanced this year to move the state closer to universal coverage by focusing on the challenges many Californians face.

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Exploring Public Options in California

March 20, 2018

This ITUP report looks at public plan choice, the “public option,” through a California lens. ITUP identifies the unique circumstances in California relevant for the discussion about public options and outlines how a California public option might be structured.

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Notes from the Field: Immigrant Communities in California Under the Cloud of Immigration Enforcement

February 14, 2018

In 2017, ITUP hosted annual workgroups throughout California, 10 regional workgroups and two collaboratives in Los Angeles. This report includes background on the legal complexities at the intersection of immigration policy and health access, and highlights key themes from the workgroup discussions.

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ITUP ACA Watch, Issue 4 — The ACA and Medi-Cal: What’s at Stake?

May 25, 2017

This issue of ACA Watch highlights program and population changes that re-shaped Medi-Cal under ACA. In addition to expanding coverage for some of the state’s most disenfranchised residents, the ACA dramatically altered the demographic profile and scope of the Medi-Cal program.

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