Anyone planning around California's Medi-Cal rules in 2026 needs to start with the reinstated asset test: $130,000 for a single person and $195,000 for a couple, effective January 1, 2026. That follows the temporary elimination of the asset test in 2024 and 2025, which means anyone still working from older "no asset test" material needs to update their assumptions (DHCS ACWDL 26-02; DHCS ACWDL 25-18).
DHCS has signaled that the asset limit may drop further, though its own published guidance isn't fully consistent about the number or the effective date — one consumer FAQ cites $21,000 for an individual and $31,000 for a couple starting July 1, 2027, while a trailer-bill fact sheet instead points to SSI-level alignment no earlier than January 2027, contingent on system programming. Anyone relying on a specific future figure should check DHCS's current guidance directly rather than treating either document as final (DHCS Asset Limit FAQ; DHCS asset-limit trailer-bill fact sheet).
Transfer timing matters here in a way it doesn't in most states. Any transfer made between January 2024 and December 2025 is permanently outside DHCS's LTC transfer review — it will never be looked at. After that window closes, the review period doesn't rebuild to its full 30 months until July 1, 2028. DHCS ties the transfer penalty specifically to nursing-facility level of care, and lists transfers to a spouse, to a blind or disabled child, and full-value sales as examples that don't trigger a penalty at all (DHCS ACWDL 25-18; DHCS Asset Limit FAQ). None of this is a green light to start transferring assets — eligibility, tax basis, creditor exposure, VA benefits, and estate recovery can all pull in different directions, so California-specific elder-law and tax advice matters before acting.
Trusts and home strategies have real limits here too. CANHR points out that simply placing assets in a revocable living trust doesn't automatically shield them for Medi-Cal purposes — each asset still has to independently qualify for an exclusion (CANHR, 2026 Asset Limit Reinstatement FAQ). CANHR also takes the position that a trust that only becomes irrevocable at death remains subject to recovery, since the person who created it retained control during life — though that's CANHR's stated view rather than settled statutory law, and the SB 833 probate-only recovery limitation makes attorney review especially valuable here (CANHR trust-and-recovery Q&A; DHCS Estate Recovery Program).
Income and spousal protections often matter more than any trust strategy. California has no Florida-style institutional income cap or Miller Trust requirement; instead, share of cost and spousal allowances tend to drive the numbers. DHCS's 2026 guidance lists a $4,067 Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance and a $162,660 Community Spouse Resource Allowance, each subject to how the letter treats newly determined versus existing cases (DHCS ACWDL 26-02). California's exempt-property rules describe the principal residence as fully excluded with no stated equity cap — though that shouldn't be read as an unconditional guarantee that no home-equity limit could ever apply (DHCS MC 007).