All of what you say sounds so familiar to me! I've known quite a few couples living together after a breakup for the same reasons. Housing is so expensive and scarce! And I am also in California and also newly on medi-cal. I was actually concerned about my own iron when I had my first appointment and when I asked the gp about it, she asked if I had been anemic; when I said I didn't know, she asked if my hair had been falling out! She did not add an iron panel to my bloodwork-- and I don't think an iron panel is even that expensive. I started taking some supplements anyway, including a very cheap iron pill, and started to feel better.
The gp did add a vitamin D on top of the basic metabolic panel, which was something I hadn't thought to do. That was helpful because mine was just a little lower than the 'normal' range-- in sunny so-cal! She offered to write me a prescription, but since I already had some on hand that I was taking only sporadically, I started taking it daily or almost daily.
By the way, do you mind if I ask if your DIL and son are ovo-lacto- vegetarian, (including eating milk products and eggs in their diet), or 'strict' vegetarians (which excludes all 'animal products', even honey)?