Where is a good place to live in CA with High Quality Medicare & MediCal

April 25, 2019 10:00 PM

I'm looking for a place to live in CA, because I have been told by several people that it has great healthcare for folks on Medicare and Medicaid. Is this true? Are there any places left in CA that have good healthcare access for Medicare and MediCal folks and shared rental housing can be found for $750 a month or less? Price and healthcare are my top priorities.

Hi there,

I'm looking for a place to live in CA, because I have been told by several people that it has great healthcare for folks on Medicare and Medicaid. Is this true? I'm also moving to escape Oregon's terrible public healthcare and the system's stigmas and restrictions on people who are high-need. Sacramento has been recommended to me because of healthcare access (I'm high-need in that regard, and have Medicare and will need to enroll in MediCal, if they still call it that) and I have a good friend there.

Are there any places left in CA that have good healthcare access for Medicare and MediCal folks and shared rental housing can be found for $750 a month or less? A bike-able place would be a big perk. But price and healthcare are my top priorities. I've been told CA is tops in the country for Medicare and Medicaid care and access. NYC medicare and medicaid care homes were really great, and I'm looking for something like that. Ideally I'd live in the South but due to healthcare needs, right now this seems like my best option. I just really don't want to go back to NYC. I have C-PTSD and I really like small towns and people saying hi to me, not big cities. Alternative healing, water, warmth, and sun would be big perks too. Thank you.

As a side note, I always feel shamed when people look at my past posts (idk why people do, I never do), and it's usually brought up, and I just want to ask for kindness. Thanks.

posted by Kombucha3452 to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

Oh lard. Please don't move here unless you absolutely can't avoid it. The cost of living in this state is through the roof. I am leaving as soon as I can, even though I get Medicare and Medi-Cal, because I am too poor and can't afford rent here.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 10:02 PM on April 25, 2019

California state median rent is ~$1400 for a one bedroom but that's skewed by the highly-desired locales. If you're prepared to live somewhere like Bakersfield there are 1bdr units that you could afford within a couple blocks of a hospital (warning: I do not live in Bakersfield myself). From a quick scan, I can also find places in Fresno, a couple studios in Modesto, some 1bdrs in Visalia, Tulare, etc. Basically, check the Central Valley.

(These are all non-shared, because I'm not sure where/how to search for shared home situations)
posted by aramaic at 11:07 PM on April 25, 2019

Fresno and Bakersfield man...
Fresno is a giant strip mall but affordable for CA. Downtown Clovis is kinda cute.

My dad lives in N Fresno not far from Kaiser in a 2-bed - I think he pays $900/m. MeMail me if you have questions about neighbourhoods and such. If I don't know I can pass the questions on to my sister. I grew up in Fresno and all my family is still there.

I lived in Midtown sac in a 1-bed for similar. I lived Midtown, if you can manage the rent or a share.

You might check out places like Amador, Grass Valley, Redding, or some of the towns around east of Sacramento - Folsom and such. Davis is very expensive.
posted by jrobin276 at 11:16 PM on April 25, 2019

If you can't work it out and have to give up the good weather, be aware that New York State in general has good Medicaid (not just NYC) and there are a lot of affordable small towns in upstate NY.
posted by metasarah at 6:06 AM on April 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

Sacramento has gotten very expensive, but you might be able to find a shared housing situation that would be that price. They do have great healthcare access, thanks to the UC Davis hospital (located in Sacramento, not Davis). I have an acquaintance who is on disability and living in a care home, though she is in her 60s. I'm not sure about options for those who don't qualify for Medicare. Sacramento is friendly and bikeable.

Stockton might be an option, but I wouldn't want to pick a neighborhood sight unseen. It's improving but there are still some not so great areas. My husband is from Stockton and his parents and all his family still live there. My father in law has been getting cancer treatment from Kaiser and has had excellent care.

Would you need public transportation? I think you would be pretty isolated in the foothills.

I looked at your past posts because you mentioned it and it sounds like you have been having a tough time. I hope you find a good place to settle! <3
posted by apricot at 6:31 AM on April 26, 2019

When you narrow down these places, just be sure to google the average weather, because the central valley gets very, very, VERY hot for a good portion of the year, and that may be a dealbreaker for you.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:04 AM on April 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

If you're eligible for Medicare and Medicaid then you're probably eligible for HUD subsidized senior and/or handicapped housing . A friend of mine lived in one in rural North Carolina, beautiful apartment in an old school building. About three years ago she moved to Houston, TX, to be close to her son, and she was able to carry her housing eligibility with her and got an apartment right away. The rent is based on her income and isn't much. Another friend has lived in a similar place in Rhode Island since she was in her 40s.

Have you checked into this? I know there are longing waiting lists in some places but not in all places. they're clean and safe and some of them even help with transportation to doctors, etc.
posted by mareli at 8:14 AM on April 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

Agreed that you might find what you're looking for (minus water, mostly) in the Central Valley. It's the Great Plains of California, basically: farming country, dotted with larger towns along the transport routes. Some of those towns have figured out how to pivot to some kind of tourist/alternate-industry revenue, but the thing you have to be careful about and makes it hard to pick housing sight-unseen is that these places suffer from the same things that plague a lot of agricultural economies that collapsed with automation and offshore processing: sky-high poverty, meth, shitty public infrastructure/lack of resources, terrible policing/courts. There are blocks that are very bad, usually because of the meth and related activities, and neglected housing that is dangerous itself and so cheap that the population is often pretty unsavory. But a block later it's fine, or at least okay, so it's hard to tell anything from available data without walking/driving by to see what it's really like. A lot of unhoused and marginally-housed and transient people end up squeezed out (or flat out put on buses and shipped out) there from SF and LA, and there's a lot of institutional predation and prejudice against anyone perceived as part of that population.

But as others have said, it's not all bad, and I think most of the Sacramento area/suburbs are a little bit different because their economy has been more diversified. It's still a large population, and if you can identify where you'd have the best access to the specific services you're looking for, you can likely find somewhere pleasant enough to live, with all the other retail services you might need.

Do be warned that water here comes at the highest premiums. You can't live near the coast on your budget, and rivers and lakes are often a similar situation. Only the crappiest weather will be within your price range, which does mean mild winters if that's your priority, but it will be 90s-100s in the summer.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:20 AM on April 26, 2019 [8 favorites]

San Luis Obispo might be an option in terms of rent. Not sure about health care.

Hotpads is good for searching for shared housing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:58 AM on April 26, 2019

I don't want to be discouraging, but I want to add two other notes about the Central Valley. First, it has abysmal air quality -- worst in the US -- that can exacerbate any pre-existing health conditions you might have. Second, actually receiving health care has been an issue for folks on MediCal. This article is a couple years old, but I don't think things have gotten much better.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:17 AM on April 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

There are lots of places in Northern California where you can find housing in your budget. Eureka/Arcata area for example. I can't speak to the medical access or quality. Similar climate to Portland, maybe just a tiny but sunnier and warmer.
posted by dadaclonefly at 12:50 PM on April 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've visited Sacramento a number of times and I've enjoyed my visits. Many San Francisco Bay Area people have/are moving to the Sacramento Area so I believe costs are slowly increasing. The Downtown and Midtown Areas are both fairly clean and have a surprising number of trees. I took a glance at Craigslist and saw a number of rooms for rent that are less than $750/month in the general Sacramento Area. Most people in the suburbs have cars. I've taken Sacramento public transit and I feel like it has decent coverage compared to other U.S. cities. They have a light rail system that goes out to many of the Sacramento suburbs. I saw security guards at light rail stations and on the trains for many of my trips. The security guards on the train would check to make sure you bought a ticket and help improve safety. I know visiting Sacramento may be difficult if you don't have extra money in your budget but I believe it would be really beneficial to visit Sacramento during July or August. Walking to the bus stop or light rail station on a day with 90+ degree weather would be a deal breaker for many people. This is probably one reason most people have cars.

I'm not familiar with Healthcare in Sacramento. UC Davis reports a number of recognition and awards they have received. Unfortunately a lot of areas in the U.S. suffer from poor quality healthcare (especially for low-income people). It would seem UC Davis is better than average but I'm not familiar with their Medicare or Medi-Cal coverage. I'd say visit in the Summer, see how you feel. Wish you the best!
posted by mundo at 12:58 PM on April 26, 2019