Expert guides about medicaid in California from Brevy Care.
A monthly Medi-Cal Share of Cost isn't a bill from the state, and it doesn't mean the county got your approval wrong.
Not returning a renewal packet can end your coverage under Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, even if you still qualify.
If your California Medi-Cal coverage is denied, reduced, or terminated, you have the right to appeal and request a fair hearing, and you can often keep your benefits during the appeal.
California Medicaid pays for nursing home care, and it does so through Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program.
California Medi-Cal spousal impoverishment rules keep the at-home spouse from being left destitute when a partner enters long-term care.
California's four Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) can wipe out or shrink what you pay for Medicare.
California gives a nursing-home resident on Medi-Cal just $35 a month to keep for personal spending. That money, for what the facility does not provide, is the Personal Needs Allowance, or PNA.
There is no CalAIM application, no CalAIM card, and no CalAIM office. CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) is not a program you sign up for.
California Medicaid estate recovery, run through the Medi-Cal Estate Recovery Program (MERP), can reach only one thing in 2026: assets that pass through probate.
In 2026, California Medi-Medi Plans expanded from 12 counties to 41 of the state's 58 counties.
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program, which CMS describes as one of the nation's largest and most complex Medicaid systems.
For two years, from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025, most non-MAGI Medi-Cal categories had no asset limit at all.
The Medi-Cal income limit for an adult under the expansion is 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, which DHCS sets at $1,836 a month for a household of one in 2026.
There is no single Medicaid California HCBS waiver.
You apply for Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, online at BenefitsCal.com, by phone, by mail, or at a county office, and the county has 45 days at most to decide.
If you are caring for an aging parent, a spouse with dementia, or an adult child with a disability in California, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) can pay you to do it.
In a California nursing facility, Medi-Cal does not pick up the whole bill.
About 13.7 million Californians are on Medi-Cal (13,675,721 in June 2026, a preliminary DHCS count), and most get their care through a managed care plan, not fee-for-service.
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program, and CMS describes it as one of the nation's largest and most complex Medicaid systems.