California moved from budget line items to an open vendor hunt.
On 22 September 2026, the Department of Health Care Access and Information released a Request for Information for a third-party administrator of three Budget Act programs totaling $66 million. One pot is $10 million for what the state calls “Gender Affirming Care Services for Children and Youth” — medical and pharmacy services for Medi-Cal members under 18 and CHIP members under 19 that lose federal funding as of 13 October 2026.
The other pots are $30 million for uncompensated care and $26 million for provider-network capacity. The RFI asks how a vendor would run pharmacy access for hormone therapy and puberty blockers. It opened at 12:00 p.m. on 22 September. Responses are due 6 October 2026.
HCAI’s page also tells providers with surgery or puberty-blocker appointments already booked on or after 13 October for those Medi-Cal and CHIP age groups to email genderaffirmingcare@hcai.ca.gov about state funding. Do not put patient identifiers in that first note.
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