Bakersfield insurer's AI 'Angelica' made 800,000 calls to boost Medi-Cal renewals

Key Takeaways

Kern Family Health Care spent about $370,000 on Careforce’s AI system to automate renewal outreach.
The AI made more than 800,000 calls to 387,000 members since late 2025, with a 94.9% renewal rate in April.
California allows health plans to contact members about renewals, while counties decide eligibility and enrollment.
Careforce says it’s also working with Central California Alliance for Health, which serves Merced County.
A 2025 federal law adds work documentation and twice‑yearly renewals starting in 2027.

Vanessa Barahona picked up a call this spring from “Angelica,” who helped her reschedule a Medi-Cal renewal appointment in Bakersfield. “It was easy. The fact that Angelica spoke Spanish when we were on the phone made it better,” she said, according to KFF Health News. The caller wasn’t human. It was an AI system used by Kern Family Health Care, Bakersfield’s largest Medi-Cal plan.

Here’s why it matters in the Valley. The same software is being used with the Central California Alliance for Health, which serves Merced County, so members here can expect similar outreach as renewals get more frequent.

What the plan is using

Kern Family deployed “Angelica,” a phone-based AI built by San Francisco startup Careforce, to call members who are due to renew coverage and book them with staff who finish the paperwork. The plan says it paid about $370,000 for the system and would have needed roughly 40 full-time employees to match the call volume without it. More than 800,000 calls have gone out to 387,000 members since late 2025. Pretty fast for paperwork.

Officials at Kern Family said the AI speaks more than 30 languages and runs around the clock. Staff were reassigned to tougher cases, and an internal helper bot named “David” guides employees through the tech. In April, Kern Family reported a 94.9% renewal rate. It was 103 degrees in Bakersfield by midafternoon that day.

The rules and who decides

State regulators say Medi-Cal plans can remind members about renewals, including with AI tools, but they must follow privacy and consumer protection laws. Plans can’t solicit new enrollees, and counties still determine eligibility. Kern Family says it works with the Kern County Department of Human Services, which stations county workers inside the plan’s Bakersfield office to answer questions from walk-ins.

The stakes climb next year. Under a federal law signed in 2025, most Medicaid beneficiaries will renew twice a year beginning in 2027 and many will have to document work requirements. Health plans paid under managed care contracts have a financial reason to keep eligible people covered and say automated outreach helps them do it without big hiring sprees.

What this means for Merced County

Careforce’s CEO said the company is also supporting the Central California Alliance for Health in similar renewal outreach. That plan covers Merced County, which means Alliance members here could get an AI call when their renewal window opens. Counties will still make the eligibility call, clinics will still see the fallout when coverage lapses, and the phones will keep ringing as rules tighten.

“When you have a new technology like this, you need to police it,” Stanford economist Mark Duggan said.

Central Valley AI is produced by the CVAI Newsdesk team and developed by Kaweah Tech, a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.

Source

https://themercedfocus.org/ai-is-being-used-to-boost-medicaid-enrollment-but-not-without-concerns/