Medi-Cal Asset Limits Are Back in 2026: The Numbers, the 2027 Cliff, and What to Do Now

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated October 2026.

California’s Medi-Cal asset limit is $130,000 for an individual applicant and $195,000 for a married couple, effective January 1, 2026, now that the asset test has been reinstated under Assembly Bill 116 (AB 116, Stats. 2025, ch. 21, § 59, adding Welfare and Institutions Code § 14005.62). If you or a parent is applying for Medi-Cal, or renewing existing coverage, this is the number that decides whether countable assets disqualify the application, and it’s already scheduled to drop sharply, no sooner than July 1, 2027.

Take a married couple with $180,000 in countable assets. They are comfortably under the $195,000 limit today. On July 1, 2027, that same couple would be nearly $150,000 over the scheduled $31,000 limit, absent a legislative change. Families who wait until the drop takes effect to start planning lose the 30-month look-back runway they would otherwise have if they act now.

I practice trust and estate planning in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties, and Medi-Cal eligibility questions come up constantly in long-term care planning. Here’s the rule of thumb I give clients: a living trust does not hide your assets from the Medi-Cal eligibility test, but it keeps those assets out of estate recovery after you die. Eligibility and estate recovery are two separate problems, and mixing them up is the single most common mistake I see people make when they try to plan for Medi-Cal on their own.

The 2026 limits and the 2027 drop, by household size

For most non-MAGI Medi-Cal categories, including long-term care coverage, California reinstated an asset limit effective January 1, 2026. Before that date, California had eliminated its asset test entirely for a period. AB 116 (bill text, § 59, adding W&I Code § 14005.62) brought it back, though at levels well above the pre-elimination figures. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) confirmed the reinstated amounts in All County Welfare Directors Letter (ACWDL) 25-14.

Each added person raises the limit by $65,000 now and by only $1,550 after the drop. Through June 30, 2027, the limit is $130,000 for one person, plus $65,000 for each additional person up to 10. Starting July 1, 2027, it’s scheduled to be $21,000 for one person and $31,000 for two people, plus $1,550 for each additional person up to 10, according to DHCS. DHCS also notes that not everyone in the home counts toward household size, and that adult children living with you aren’t included.

A household of one drops from $130,000 to $21,000, and a household of two drops from $195,000 to $31,000, because the per-person add-on falls from $65,000 to $1,550.

Household size	Through June 30, 2027	From July 1, 2027
1 person	$130,000	$21,000
2 people	$195,000	$31,000
3 people	$260,000	$32,550
4 people	$325,000	$34,100
10 people (maximum counted)	$715,000	$43,400

Source: DHCS Asset Limit Frequently Asked Questions, DHCS. Figures for two and more people are computed from DHCS’s stated limits: $130,000 plus $65,000 per extra person through June 30, 2027, and $31,000 for two people plus $1,550 per extra person from July 1, 2027.

How firm the July 2027 date is

The drop is the law today. Under current law, the asset limit is scheduled to fall again on July 1, 2027 (enacted, Stats. 2026, ch. 27, §§ 68-69). Unless the legislature acts to change it before then, the amounts drop to roughly one-sixth of the 2026 numbers.

That date is less settled than a scheduled statutory change looks. The July 1, 2027 figures come from Welfare and Institutions Code § 14005.62, as repealed and added by Stats. 2026, ch. 27, sec. 69 (SB 164, chaptered June 29, 2026), not from AB 116, which enacted only the 2026 tier above. The statute itself builds in three conditions that matter more than most coverage of this change lets on.

First, the new limits apply no sooner than July 1, 2027, and only once the DHCS director determines the department’s systems are ready and communicates that in writing to the Department of Finance under § 14005.62(a)(2). The date can’t come sooner, and a systems delay pushes it later. Second, under § 14005.62(a)(1) and (e), the section is implemented only after DHCS obtains the necessary federal approvals and only to the extent federal financial participation is available. Third, and most important for anyone already enrolled, § 14005.62(b) delays the new limit for existing beneficiaries until their first annual redetermination on or after the operative date. Depending on where someone falls in the renewal cycle, that can mean close to a year of additional time at the current $130,000 and $195,000 limits.

The Governor’s May 2026 Revision proposed a far stricter $2,000 individual and $3,000 couple asset limit effective January 2027. That proposal was rejected in the final 2026-27 state budget and isn’t pending in any form. The only asset-limit change currently on the books is the SB 164 tier described above, on the schedule and conditions described above.

The scheduled drop is not tied to the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) resource limit, and it doesn’t “align” California with any federal standard. It’s the number the legislature wrote into the statute for the second phase of reinstatement. If you’re inside the 2026 window with assets between roughly $31,000 and $195,000 as a couple, or between $21,000 and $130,000 as an individual, you have a real planning window that closes on July 1, 2027, and it’s worth using.

What counts toward the limit and what doesn’t

The asset limit only applies to countable assets. Many assets are exempt regardless of value, and the most important one for most of my clients is the home. DHCS says your main home, your main vehicle, household items such as furniture and clothes, and retirement funds you’re receiving regular payments from aren’t counted toward the limit.

• Principal residence: exempt. Under Welfare and Institutions Code § 14006 and DHCS guidance, the applicant’s principal residence isn’t a countable asset for Medi-Cal eligibility purposes, regardless of its value. Federal law separately disqualifies a long-term care applicant whose home equity exceeds an indexed limit unless, for example, a spouse lives there (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(f)).
• One vehicle: generally exempt.
• Personal effects and household goods: generally exempt.
• Prepaid burial or irrevocable burial trusts, within limits: generally exempt.
• Cash, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and most real property other than the principal residence: countable and applied against the $130,000 / $195,000 limit.
• Assets held in a revocable living trust: still countable. Because the settlor retains control and can revoke the trust and reclaim the assets, DHCS treats revocable trust assets as available to the applicant for eligibility purposes. Funding a revocable trust doesn’t remove assets from the eligibility calculation.

Second homes, second vehicles, cash, and bank accounts are counted. If you live in a nursing home and own your home, DHCS says it won’t count if you plan to return to it, or if a spouse, partner, or dependent relative lives there. Any extra homes count. That makes the bank-balance question mostly about cash, accounts, and everything else you own outside those exemptions: through June 30, 2027, one person can have up to $130,000 in countable assets and a couple up to $195,000, and from July 1, 2027, the figures are scheduled to be $21,000 for one person and $31,000 for two.

An inheritance can cost you coverage if it pushes your countable assets over the limit, because DHCS counts cash and bank accounts and checks your assets when you renew. An inheritance that sits in your account as cash is a countable asset like any other. Through June 30, 2027, a single person with $130,000 or less in countable assets stays under the limit. DHCS says that if you’re over the limit when you renew, you may lose coverage. Spending the money on things you need, or transferring assets, are the options DHCS lists, but if you may need nursing-home or long-term care, giving assets away for less than they’re worth can delay that coverage under the 30-month look-back. Talk to an attorney before moving an inheritance. The related Medi-Cal estate recovery rules and the Medi-Cal income limits work separately from the asset test.

Why a living trust helps after death but not with eligibility

Eligibility and estate recovery get confused here, and a trust bears on only one of them. While you’re alive, DHCS looks through a revocable living trust to the assets inside it. If you can revoke the trust and get the assets back, those assets count against the $130,000 or $195,000 limit as if you held them in your own name. A living trust isn’t a Medi-Cal planning tool for eligibility purposes.

After death, assets that pass through a properly funded revocable living trust avoid probate, and California’s Medi-Cal estate recovery program is now limited to the probate estate. So “funding the trust” and “qualifying for Medi-Cal” are two different projects with two different timelines.

Since Senate Bill 833 (SB 833, Stats. 2016, ch. 30, § 22), California limits Medi-Cal estate recovery to the probate estate, codified at Welfare and Institutions Code § 14009.5(f)(3). It’s a narrower target than the “expanded estate” definition (which would reach non-probate assets like trust property, joint tenancy interests, and payable-on-death accounts) that some other states use and that California itself briefly allowed before SB 833.

• Assets that pass outside of probate, including assets held in a funded revocable living trust, are outside the reach of a Medi-Cal estate recovery claim.
• Assets that pass through probate, such as property left in your individual name with no trust and no other survivorship mechanism, remain subject to recovery.
• Recovery doesn’t proceed while a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is living.
• Recovery is barred against a surviving child under 21, or a surviving child of any age who is blind or disabled.
• A hardship waiver is available for a homestead of modest value, generally where the property’s value is 50% or less of the average home value in the county.

Funding a living trust is one of the most effective steps a Medi-Cal recipient’s family can take to keep the home and other assets out of the state’s recovery claim once probate would otherwise be required.

The 30-month look-back and the January 1, 2026 line

A gift or transfer for less than fair market value can cost you coverage if it falls inside the 30-month look-back. California applies a 30-month look-back period for transfers connected to nursing-facility level of care, according to the DHCS asset-limit FAQ. Under Welfare and Institutions Code § 14015, operative January 1, 2026, DHCS sets the length of the look-back. California’s period is shorter than the federal default of 60 months (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(1)(B)).

The reinstatement of the asset limit also carries a transition rule for anyone who moved assets before or after January 1, 2026.

• Transfers made before January 1, 2026 aren’t penalized under the reinstated asset-limit rules.
• Transfers made on or after January 1, 2026 can trigger a period of ineligibility if they fall within the 30-month look-back and were made for less than fair market value.

In practice, this means the timing of any gift or transfer relative to January 1, 2026 matters as much as the transfer itself. Anyone who transferred assets in anticipation of a Medi-Cal application should confirm when the transfer occurred and how it’s treated under the current rule, not the rule that applied when the asset limit was eliminated.

When only one spouse needs care

When one spouse applies for long-term care Medi-Cal and the other spouse remains in the community, California allows the community spouse to keep additional resources and income beyond the applicant’s own limit, so the household isn’t forced to spend down to poverty to qualify one spouse for care. In 2026 the Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA) is $162,660, the additional countable resources the non-applicant spouse may keep, on top of the applicant’s own exempt and countable-asset treatment. The Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) is $4,067 per month, the minimum monthly income the community spouse is entitled to keep from the applicant spouse’s income, if the community spouse’s own income falls short.

These figures, from DHCS ACWDL 26-02, work alongside, not instead of, the $195,000 couple limit described above, and the interaction between the CSRA and the household asset limit is one of the more common places I see people miscalculate their own eligibility before coming in for a consultation.

What to do before your next renewal

The gap between “eligible today” and “scheduled to be ineligible in 2027” is the single clearest argument for getting a Medi-Cal and trust funding review done in 2026 rather than waiting.

1. Confirm your current countable assets against the $130,000 / $195,000 limit before your next annual renewal, not after a notice arrives.
2. Check whether the principal residence is titled correctly. The exemption under § 14006 applies to the residence itself, and how it’s titled affects what happens to it later, including whether it passes through probate.
3. Review any transfers made in the last 30 months and note whether each one occurred before or after January 1, 2026, since the reinstated look-back penalty only applies to post-2026 transfers.
4. If you’re married and only one spouse needs care, calculate the CSRA and MMMNA before assuming the household must spend down to the individual limit.
5. Fund your revocable living trust now if you haven’t finished that step. An unfunded or partially funded trust leaves assets in probate, where a Medi-Cal recovery claim can reach them.
6. Calendar July 1, 2027. If your countable assets sit between the 2026 limit and the scheduled 2027 limit, that is the window in which planning choices matter most.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Medi-Cal asset limit for 2026?

$130,000 for an individual applicant and $195,000 for a married couple, effective January 1, 2026, with $65,000 for each additional household member up to 10, under AB 116 and DHCS ACWDL 25-14.

Does a living trust hide assets from Medi-Cal?

No. A living trust does not hide your assets from the Medi-Cal eligibility test, but it keeps those assets out of estate recovery after you die. DHCS counts revocable trust assets as available to you while you are alive; the trust’s value shows up only later, in keeping assets out of probate and therefore out of the state’s recovery claim.

Is the Medi-Cal asset limit going away again in 2027?

Not entirely, but it drops substantially. Under current law, the limit is scheduled to fall to $21,000 for an individual, $31,000 for a couple, and $1,550 for each additional person, effective July 1, 2027.

What is the Medi-Cal look-back period in California?

30 months for nursing-facility-related transfers, per DHCS guidance. Transfers made before January 1, 2026 are not penalized under the reinstated asset-limit rules; transfers made on or after that date can trigger ineligibility if made within the look-back period for less than fair value.

Can Medi-Cal take my house after I die?

Only if the house passes through probate. Since SB 833 and W&I Code § 14009.5(f)(3), California’s Medi-Cal estate recovery reaches only the probate estate. A home that is exempt during your life under § 14006 and that passes through a properly funded revocable living trust, rather than through probate, is outside the recovery claim. Recovery also does not proceed while a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is living, and it is barred against a surviving child under 21 or a blind or disabled child of any age, with a hardship waiver available for a modest-value homestead.