California Medi-Cal Asset Limits 2026: $130K Single, $195K Couple

For two years, from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025, most non-MAGI Medi-Cal categories had no asset limit at all. A 92-year-old widow with a million dollars in the bank could qualify for full-scope long-term-care Medi-Cal, paying only her income-based share of cost.

That ended on January 1, 2026. California Medi-Cal asset limits returned under AB 116 (Chapter 21, Statutes of 2025), at $130,000 for an individual, $195,000 for a couple, and another $65,000 per additional household member.1 Those figures are temporary. DHCS states they hold only through June 30, 2027, and that on July 1, 2027 the limit drops to $21,000 for one person and $31,000 for two.2

How California Medi-Cal Asset Limits Got Here

The federal floor, then the AB 133 phase-out

Before AB 133, California applied the SSI-linked federal Medicaid asset rules: $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. Those SSI resource limits are set by federal law, and they are unchanged for 2026.1 AB 133 (Statutes of 2021) then raised non-MAGI asset limits in a first phase, to the $130,000 individual plus $65,000 per additional household member levels AB 116 has now restored, and eliminated them in a second phase effective January 1, 2024.1

The AB 116 reinstatement (effective January 1, 2026)

AB 116, the 2025-26 health omnibus trailer bill, reinstated the asset test at AB 133's first-phase levels rather than the old federal floor. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) implemented it through ACWDL 25-14 for all 58 county welfare departments.2

California Medi-Cal Asset Limits in 2026

For the non-MAGI categories, including the Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level (A&D FPL) program, Medically Needy with Share of Cost, the 250% Working Disabled Program, long-term care, and most HCBS waivers, the 2026 limits are:1

The additional-person allowance runs up to a maximum of 10 people.1 Being over the limit is not the end of the road, because it applies to countable property: applicants and members with excess property may reduce their countable assets to within the limit (a spenddown) by the end of the month in which eligibility is to be established, and the county must explain those spenddown options.1 When one spouse needs long-term care and the other stays home, a different calculation applies; see the spousal-protections section below.

These limits expire June 30, 2027

The figures above are not permanent. DHCS's own Medi-Cal Changes page states that they apply "Through June 30, 2027," and that starting July 1, 2027 the asset limit becomes $21,000 for one person, $31,000 for two people, plus $1,550 for each additional person, up to 10 people.2 Treat the $130,000 ceiling as a window, not a settled rule.

MAGI categories have no asset test

Medi-Cal under the ACA adult expansion is decided on income alone, at a limit DHCS publishes as 138% of the federal poverty level, with no asset test of any kind. The AB 116 asset limits apply only to the non-MAGI categories.2

Which Assets Don't Count Toward the Limit?

AB 116 reset the dollar limit, not the list of property that does not count. DHCS's Medi-Cal Changes page lists four examples of assets that don't count: "The home you live in," "One vehicle," "Household items," and "Some savings, like retirement accounts."2

• Principal residence. The home the applicant lives in is a non-countable asset for the AB 116 asset test. A separate home-equity rule still governs long-term-care coverage; see below.3
• One vehicle.2
• Household items, such as furniture and clothing.2
• Some savings, like retirement accounts. How a particular Individual Retirement Account (IRA), 401(k), or pension is treated is a determination your county makes on the specific account, so ask before you assume.2

Families also ask about burial trusts and plots, life insurance, special needs trusts, CalABLE accounts, and income-producing property. DHCS's AB 116 guidance does not restate how those are treated, so confirm each with your county eligibility worker.

The home is exempt from the asset limit, but long-term care has an equity cap

Non-countable does not mean unlimited, and this is the point families most often get wrong. Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14006.15(b), as amended by AB 116 and operative January 1, 2026, makes an individual ineligible for Medi-Cal assistance for home and facility care when equity in the principal residence exceeds California's home-equity limit: a $750,000 figure the statute has raised every year since 2011 by the consumer price index, rounded to the nearest $1,000. Federal law lets a state pick within a band, and California elected the higher end: CMS sets the 2026 band at a $752,000 minimum and a $1,130,000 maximum, and California is one of twelve jurisdictions applying the higher figure. So the ceiling that governs a 2026 application is $1,130,000, not the $750,000 statutory base. Equity interest is the lesser of the most recent tax-assessed value or a qualified appraiser's value, less encumbrances of record.3

The cap has real exceptions. It does not apply while a spouse, or a child under 21, blind, or disabled, lawfully resides in the home, nor where eligibility rests on an application filed before January 1, 2006. DHCS may also waive it for demonstrated hardship. The statute lists seven hardship circumstances and says the list is not exhaustive; they include holding a certified California Partnership for Long-Term Care policy, being denied a home-equity loan by at least three lenders or being ineligible for any FHA-approved loan or reverse mortgage, being unable with good cause to verify the equity value, and having received home and facility care before January 1, 2006. Further out, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (Public Law 119-21) bars Medicaid long-term services and supports from January 1, 2028 where home equity on a non-agricultural lot exceeds $1,000,000, and California must implement that by then. That federal cap keeps the same family exceptions as the state one, for a spouse or a child who is under 21, blind, or disabled, and the same demonstrated-hardship waiver.3

Four Categories Exempt From the Asset Reinstatement

Four eligibility categories sit outside the general non-MAGI asset limit. Pickle, DAC, and DW continue under no-asset-test rules, because their limits were eliminated under separate federal waiver authority rather than AB 133; DHCS says that holds until it issues further guidance. SSI-linked Medi-Cal was never governed by AB 116: it keeps SSI's stricter limits.1

1. SSI-linked Medi-Cal. SSI recipients keep their federal $2,000 / $3,000 limits, which AB 116 did not change. Those limits are far stricter than AB 116's, so someone whose countable assets have grown past $2,000 should ask the county which non-MAGI category they can be determined under instead, where the $130,000 limit applies.1
2. Pickle Amendment recipients. People who would still qualify for SSI but for cost-of-living increases to their Social Security since they last received SSI remain exempt. ACWDL c07-28 governs Pickle determinations in California.1
3. Disabled Adult Children (DAC). Adults disabled before age 22 who receive Social Security on a parent's record, and who would have been SSI-eligible without that benefit, are exempt.
4. Disabled Widow(er)s (DW). Disabled survivors who would have been SSI-eligible without their Social Security survivor benefit are exempt.

How the Transfer-Penalty Look-Back Works

Give away assets for less than fair value before applying for nursing-facility Medi-Cal and the program can impose a transfer penalty: a stretch of time during which it will not pay for care.

The 2024 to 2025 window is never reviewed

January 2024 through December 2025 is not reviewed in the look-back, because the asset test did not apply then. ACWDL 25-18 directs counties not to request verification, review electronic asset verification, or calculate any period of ineligibility for those transfers.3

This does not shield assets you still own. Countable property currently in your name counts against the $130,000 / $195,000 limit no matter when you acquired it.1

The 30-month look-back phases in

California capped its look-back at 30 months, not the federal 60. Beginning July 1, 2026, the months a county must review increase by one each month, until the full 30-month look-back applies to long-term-care applications filed on or after July 1, 2028.3

How a penalty is calculated

A penalty divides the uncompensated transfer by the statewide Average Private Pay Rate (APPR) for nursing-facility care, reported at $14,440 per month for 2026. That figure comes from a secondary source: ACWDL 25-18 does not print it, and DHCS publishes the official divisor each year around the end of January, so confirm the current one with your county. Counties do not follow up when electronic asset verification shows transfers under the APPR, or when the applicant was within the asset limits on the date of transfer. That is the exception, not the rule: when it appears the applicant was over the asset limits and transferred property worth more than the APPR, the county follows up, and a transfer by someone in long-term care is presumed to have been made to establish eligibility. You can rebut that presumption with evidence the transfer was made for another reason.3

So a gift inside the window equal to ten months of the official APPR produces 10 months during which nursing-facility Medi-Cal will not pay.3 The penalty has a ceiling of its own: the maximum period of ineligibility is 30 months from the date of the transfer, so even a very large gift does not produce an open-ended one.3 A penalty is also not automatic and is not a denial of Medi-Cal. Every case must be reviewed for undue hardship first, the penalty cannot be imposed without approval from DHCS's Medi-Cal Eligibility Division, and counties impose it by granting restricted eligibility for nursing-facility level of care rather than denying Medi-Cal outright.3

Several categories of transfer can be exempt from a penalty, each subject to conditions the county verifies: transfers to a spouse or a disabled child, transfers to a trust for the sole benefit of a disabled person under 65, the home transferred to a caregiver child or to a sibling with an equity interest, transfers for fair market value, and transfers made for a purpose other than qualifying for Medicaid.

How the Transfer Penalty Treats Home-Based Care

California's transfer penalty is defined narrowly. ACWDL 25-18 calls it a period of ineligibility for nursing facility level of care that "does not apply to Medi-Cal members enrolled in community-based Medi-Cal programs" such as the Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) Waiver, the Assisted Living Waiver (ALW), the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS), or Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).4

Read that boundary carefully. ACWDL 25-18 has counties review the look-back "[w]hen applying for Medi-Cal or entering an LTC facility," and the carve-out is written for members already enrolled in a community-based program, not for everyone who applies for a waiver. A past transfer is therefore not automatically consequence-free on a waiver application, and it remains live if the person later needs nursing-facility care.4

For the underlying programs, see our HCBS Waivers Guide and Nursing Home Care Guide.

How Asset Limits and Spousal Protections Stack

When one spouse needs Medi-Cal long-term care (in a nursing facility or on an HCBS waiver), federal spousal-impoverishment rules protect the community spouse who stays home. California extends them to home- and community-based services, not just nursing-facility cases, under the Affordable Care Act's broadened definition of an institutionalized spouse as implemented by DHCS ACWDLs 17-25 and 18-19.3

For 2026, DHCS sets California's Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA) at $162,660. That 2026 figure applies to cases newly determined under spousal-impoverishment rules from January 1, 2026 onward, and only to the initial month of eligibility; existing cases are not held to it at their 2026 renewal. It is also not necessarily a hard ceiling: DHCS's older guidance describes the allowance as the published amount or an amount set by court order or fair hearing, whichever is greater. California publishes a single CSRA figure; it does not publish the separate federal minimum resource standard of $32,532 that some states apply. The applicant spouse is measured against the $130,000 non-MAGI limit, so a couple where one spouse needs care can generally hold about $292,660 in countable resources, plus the exempt home.3

Worked example: one spouse applies through an HCBS waiver

Maria, 78, is healthy and at home in San Diego. Tomás, 80, has mid-stage Alzheimer's and is applying for care at home through an HCBS waiver. They have $325,000 in countable assets, a paid-off home, and one car; Tomás's Social Security is $2,400 a month.3

Because California extends spousal impoverishment to its HCBS programs and waivers, Maria's share is measured against the $162,660 CSRA and Tomás's against his $130,000 limit, for $292,660 protected. The couple would need to spend down only $325,000 minus $292,660, or $32,340, before Tomás qualifies.3

The protection follows the program, not the setting: DHCS applies it when the spouse needing care is in a skilled nursing facility, is on an HCBS waitlist, or is actively participating in an HCBS program. Home care arranged outside those programs is not what ACWDLs 17-25 and 18-19 address, so if the plan is care at home without a waiver, do not assume this math applies; ask your county which rules your case falls under. HCBS income budgeting also differs from the facility one: no $35 personal needs allowance, spouses budgeted separately at the one-person Federal Poverty Level and Medically Needy levels, all applicable non-MAGI deductions and disregards, and spousal and dependent income allocations.3

On the income side, Tomás may be over the Aged and Disabled FPL program's income standard. DHCS had not published the 2026 A&D FPL figure as of this update. Being over it would not block him: it puts him in Medically Needy with a Share of Cost, his income minus allowed deductions, and Medi-Cal pays the rest.1

Why California Is Not a Miller Trust State

California handles income over a program limit differently: W&I Code Section 14005.13(a) treats a long-term-care resident's excess income as a patient liability, a share of cost, rather than as a bar to eligibility.3

A Miller Trust, also called a Qualified Income Trust, is the device used in income-cap states, where an applicant whose income exceeds a hard ceiling must route the excess through the trust to qualify. California is a Medically Needy state instead.1

The Share of Cost is the difference between monthly income and the maintenance need level, which is $600 for a single individual and $934 for a family of two adults. The applicant pays that toward care each month and Medi-Cal pays the balance. Anyone who set up a Miller Trust in another state should ask a California elder-law attorney before assuming it carries over, or that a new one is needed here.1

How to Apply With Asset Limits in Mind

Full logistics are in our Medi-Cal Application Guide. For an asset-aware application:

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Treating California like a Miller Trust state. Use A&D FPL or Medically Needy instead.
2. Missing Pickle, DAC, or DW status. Ask the county for the determination, especially after prior SSI or a Social Security DAC or survivor benefit.
3. Confusing the 2024 to 2025 window with current transfers. A gift on December 31, 2025 is never reviewed; a gift on January 1, 2026 falls under the look-back once it ramps up.
4. Assuming a retirement account automatically counts against the limit. DHCS lists "some savings, like retirement accounts" among the assets that do not count, and how a particular IRA, 401(k), or pension is treated is a county determination. Ask before you spend one down.2
5. Selling the home to spend down. The residence does not count toward the $130,000 / $195,000 limit, so a sale converts an exempt asset into countable cash. High equity is a separate problem, and a sale is not how you solve it.3
6. Overlooking the 250% Working Disabled Program. Disabled adults who are working should ask the county whether it fits them better than A&D FPL or Medically Needy; like the other non-MAGI programs, it runs under the $130,000 / $195,000 limits.1
7. Planning around $130,000 past mid-2027. DHCS says the limit drops to $21,000 for one person on July 1, 2027.2

The Bottom Line

1. AB 116 sets $130,000 individual / $195,000 couple, and a married couple can generally protect roughly $292,660 plus the home.1 They hold only through June 30, 2027, then drop to $21,000 for one person.2
2. The home never counts toward that limit, but equity above California's home-equity cap still bars payment for long-term care.3
3. Transfers made in 2024 and 2025 are never reviewed; assets you still hold count no matter when you got them.3
4. The transfer penalty does not reach members already enrolled in community-based programs, but a transfer is not consequence-free on a waiver application.4
5. California handles income over a program limit as a Share of Cost, not through a Miller Trust.

Where to Get Help

For the official rules see DHCS at dhcs.ca.gov, or apply through your county at BenefitsCal.com.

Learn More

Find personalized help with Medi-Cal asset limits at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.