(updated March 2006) Access for Infants and Children (AIM) is a California state-run program that provides low-cost health coverage for some middle-income mothers and their newborns with no health coverage or health coverage with limited maternity benefits.

•        AIM has five eligibility requirements:

(1)  You must not be more than 30 weeks pregnant by the time your complete application is received;

(2)  You must have lived in California for the last 6 months;

(3)  You must not be receiving no-cost Medi-Cal or Medicare benefits;

(4)  You do not have private health insurance that covers maternity care, or if you do have private health insurance, your maternity coverage must be subject to a deductible or co-payment of more than $500.

(5)  You meet the AIM income guidelines. Women with family incomes of 200% to 300% of the federal poverty level are eligible for AIM.

•        The AIM program requires its enrollees to pay a modest share of the costs of coverage.

•        The AIM program provides comprehensive benefits to its enrollees, including physician services, hospitalization, prescription drugs, mental health, prenatal and maternity care, and well-baby care.

•        Women remain enrolled in AIM until 60 days after giving birth. Children remain enrolled until their second birthdays. Your coverage will end sooner if you move from California, defraud the program, or ask to be disenrolled. If you are disenrolled, you will not be able to rejoin AIM during the same pregnancy.

For more information concerning the AIM program, call Dr. Vardit (Ditti) Lichtenstein at (559) 486 8888.  If you decide to enroll, please print the application form (PDF format), fill as much of it as you can, and bring it with you to your first appointment.