Settlement requires state to provide access to care for Medi-Cal applicants FAIRFIELD — Hundreds of thousands of Californians will soon have speedier access to health care. That’s thanks to a settlement in a seven-year lawsuit that requires California’s Department of Health Care Services to allow eligible Medi-Cal applicants to receive health coverage right away, subject to later verification of their declared income, according to a Tuesday press release. The decision came down Monday. The lawsuit, filed in 2014, sought to end the state’s practice of leaving hundreds of thousands of eligible low-income applicants to wait for months without health care.