Medi-Cal Asset and Income Rules for Older Adults in California

Yes. California removed the Medi-Cal asset test on January 1, 2024, and many families still remember that. It did not last. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which runs Medi-Cal, started counting assets again on January 1, 2026.

A DHCS letter to counties dated October 9, 2025 gives the history. A 2021 budget law removed the asset test as of January 1, 2024. A 2025 budget law, Assembly Bill 116, brought it back for 2026. DHCS's member pages, as we read them in October 2026, add that a much lower limit starts on July 1, 2027.

The dates and amounts DHCS gives are:

DHCS says the limits apply to people who are 65 or older, people who have a physical, mental or developmental disability, people who live in a nursing home, and people in a family that makes too much money to qualify under federal tax rules. For everyone else, DHCS says most applicants can find out whether they qualify based on income.

New applicants report what they own when they apply. A person who already has Medi-Cal reports assets at renewal. DHCS warns that a person who is over the limit at renewal may lose coverage.

Not everyone in the house counts toward household size. DHCS gives the example that adult children living with you are not included. Married couples and registered domestic partners may have higher limits under the spousal impoverishment rules, which we explain in Medi-Cal spousal protection in California.

People who get Medi-Cal through Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are a separate case. California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), a nonprofit that publishes consumer fact sheets, notes in its 2026 fact sheet that SSI recipients must still meet SSI's own limits of $2,000 for one person and $3,000 for a couple.

Medi-Cal does not count everything a person owns. DHCS and CANHR's 2026 fact sheets describe these as generally not counted:

• The home. DHCS says the home you live in does not count. For a person in a nursing home, it does not count if he or she plans to return, or if a spouse, partner or dependent relative lives there.
• One vehicle.
• Household items such as furniture and clothes.
• Retirement funds, if the person is getting regular payments from them.
• Term life insurance, burial plots and a prepaid irrevocable burial plan, according to CANHR.
• Counted items include cash, bank accounts, second vehicles and second homes. CANHR adds that money held in a revocable living trust is still counted.

Income is a separate test, and DHCS says the income rules did not change when the asset test returned. For people 65 and older who live at home or in assisted living, the main program is the Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level program. CANHR describes it as full Medi-Cal with no share of cost.

The limit is 138 percent of the federal poverty level. DHCS's 2026 chart puts that at $1,836 a month for one person and $2,490 for a couple. CANHR's July 2026 fact sheet gives the same figures, effective April 1, 2026. The limit applies to countable income, which is lower than gross income. CANHR lists the usual subtractions: $20 from unearned income and the cost of health insurance premiums, such as the Medicare Part B premium.

A person whose countable income is over the limit is not shut out. He or she may get Medi-Cal with a monthly share of cost. For an assisted living resident there is a special deduction that can shrink it. Both are covered in Medi-Cal share of cost explained.

DHCS says that for most people, giving away or selling assets will not affect Medi-Cal. The exception is nursing home care. If a person moves into a nursing home, Medi-Cal looks at assets given away in the 30 months before admission. This is the look-back period.

According to DHCS, transfers made before January 1, 2026 are not counted, and transfers made on or after that date may cause a penalty that delays coverage of nursing facility care. The October 2025 county letter adds detail. The penalty does not apply to people in community-based Medi-Cal programs. A transfer of countable assets matters only if the person was over the asset limit when it was made and gave away more than the statewide average private pay rate for nursing facility care, a monthly figure DHCS publishes each year. Counties must review each case for undue hardship first.

DHCS lists transfers that do not cost a person coverage: to a spouse, to a blind or disabled child, or a sale for full value. Whether a particular gift or sale is safe is a legal question. Ask the county Medi-Cal office, a legal aid program for older adults or an elder law attorney before moving money or property. Families thinking about the house can start with selling a house to pay for assisted living.

Medi-Cal does not pay the monthly bill in assisted living or in board and care homes, licensed in California as residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs). CANHR notes that these homes are usually paid privately because they are not funded by Medicare or Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal still matters to residents in three ways.

First, CANHR points out that it can pay for doctor visits, copays, medical equipment and medications. Second, it is the door to the Medi-Cal Assisted Living Waiver, which pays for care services in some homes. Third, it pays for nursing home care if a person's needs later go beyond what an RCFE may provide.

A home that is not counted during life can still face a claim after death. DHCS states that asset limits are not the same as the rules for estate recovery. See Medi-Cal estate recovery in California.

Hamssa Benrekia is a senior living placement specialist in Torrance who works with families in the South Bay and Harbor area of Los Angeles County. She does not decide Medi-Cal eligibility, give legal or financial advice, or enroll anyone in a program. Once you know your relative's real monthly budget, she can tell you which kinds of local homes may fit it, including a board and care home. To talk it through, contact Hamssa. The full series is in the California Assisted Living Placement Guide.