Nonprofit 211 San Diego is launching an awareness and fundraising campaign as federal funding changes take hold.
At a news conference at the nonprofit's Kearney Mesa call center Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, said Medi-Cal cuts are having wide-ranging effects.
"My district is the fifth-least dependent in all of California on Medicaid," Peters said. "And still in District 50, 21% of people get their health care from Medicaid — Medi-Cal as we call it here. That's slashed."
211 San Diego receives up to 2,000 calls per day, said Bill York, its president and CEO. He said they've been trying to connect people with other community services.
"We already see people falling off of ... Medi-Cal," he said. "We're seeing on our calls ... people are fearful of what will happen, when it will happen and (they) fall off benefits again. That's who we talk to every day."
211 San Diego's call center is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Its staff helps people navigate the hundreds of local, state and national programs available to aid with housing, health, food and disaster response.
York said the personal connection is important.
"We're not duplicating services — we're making systems work better and we're getting people access," he said. "We're also a live voice — hearing those questions, answering those questions with empathy and concern during trying times."
President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law this summer, cut $187 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
That's part of the more than $1 trillion in cuts to federal benefits in the bill.
The cuts are meant to offset the more than $4.5 trillion in tax breaks also in the bill.
