Medi-Cal cuts could push seniors and people with disabilities off of
coverage
[October 24, 2026]
By KRISTEN HWANG/CalMatters
Julia Feinberg feels like she’s living in a sinister version of
Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row California lawmakers have
made it tougher for seniors and people with disabilities to qualify for
state-funded health benefits.
Feinberg, 37, who has a degenerative neuromuscular disorder, said
without Medi-Cal she would be confined to a nursing home rather than
living and working as a therapist in Oakland.
“We keep having to have the same fight over and over and over again,”
Feinberg said. She requires a power wheelchair and about 19 hours of
caregiving each day, which Medi-Cal covers.
California is cutting Medi-Cal after a decade of expansion, part of
sweeping federal and state cuts that experts estimate will kick more
than 2.2 million Californians off coverage in the next four years,
doubling the state’s uninsured rate.
The latest cut came in June, when state leaders approved a budget that
will lower the asset limit for low-income seniors and people with
disabilities to $21,000 to qualify for Medi-Cal, starting in July 2027.
Feinberg, who has built up emergency savings, will have to spend about
$10,000 to get under the cap.
In 2024, the state eliminated longstanding Medi-Cal asset limits, but
since then lawmakers have chipped away at that policy. At the beginning
of this year, state leaders reinstated an asset limit of $130,000, and
the June budget lowered it further.
A primary residence and one vehicle are exempt from the new limit, but
people 65 and older as well as those with disabilities cannot own a
second home or car, and they can’t have more than $21,000 in savings
accounts, certain retirement accounts, life insurance policies or even
burial plots. They must still meet Medi-Cal income eligibility limits of
about $1,800 a month for a single person.
Advocates say the rules unfairly target older people and those with
disabilities.
“It’s really expensive to be disabled,” said Elizabette Guéçamburu, 44,
who like Feinberg has spinal muscular atrophy and requires a power
wheelchair as well as daily caregiving.
Guéçamburu said she’s saving up for a used wheelchair-accessible van,
which costs about $75,000. Home modifications such as adding ramps and
making bathrooms accessible also cost tens of thousands of dollars, none
of which are covered by Medi-Cal. Guéçamburu said those expenses would
be impossible to afford if she couldn’t save.
Guéçamburu lives on her family’s farm in Patterson where they grow
walnuts, almonds and alfalfa. She works part time as the farm’s
bookkeeper. In 2024, doctors diagnosed Guéçamburu’s father with prostate
cancer, and he could no longer act as her caregiver. The same year,
California eliminated asset limits for people with disabilities and
seniors — Guéçamburu cried, able to qualify for Medi-Cal for the first
time.
“The timing was a godsend,” she said.
Now, her aging father is unable to take care of her should she lose Medi-Cal,
and Guéçamburu is struggling to figure out what to do with money left to
her by her grandmother. She’ll likely have to put it into a special
needs trust controlled by a family member and give up financial
independence. She also had her family strike her from inheriting any
portion of their 100-year-old farm. Private home care costs thousands of
dollars a month, making it hard for lower- and middle-income people to
pay for it out-of-pocket.
“I have to surrender our legacy just to have medical security and have
the ability to live my life,” Guéçamburu said.
Asset limit flip-flop
Gov. Gavin Newsom eliminated Medi-Cal asset requirements in 2024 after a
yearslong campaign by senior and disability rights advocates. In a
statement before the elimination, Newsom said he was proud of the “bold
investments” his administration was making to “protect life savings and
homes.”
[to top of second column]
|
 But two years later, faced with a
$12 billion budget shortfall, Newsom proposed reinstating the former
$2,000 limit, arguing that more than twice as many people enrolled
as previously estimated. The Legislature opposed that proposal and
compromised at the current higher limit of $130,000, lowering it
again to $21,000 starting next July.
Lindsay Imai Hong, California director for Hand In Hand, an advocacy
group supporting families that need caregiving, said organizers are
looking to the next governor for change.
“We would love to see the asset test permanently taken off of the
chopping block,” Imai Hong said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said in a statement
to CalMatters that he opposes asset limits. He criticized the state
for extending other Medi-Cal benefits beyond what it could afford,
including coverage for immigrants without legal status.
“Seniors and people with disabilities shouldn’t lose their coverage
because they’ve managed to save some money. They’ve done the
responsible thing. Why punish them for it?” he said.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and front-runner Xavier Becerra
did not answer specific questions about the asset limit policy, but
a campaign spokesperson blamed the Trump administration’s federal
cuts for “squeezing” California’s Medi-Cal program.
Becerra will be “focused on protecting access to care and demand
savings that are real, measurable and sustainable,” spokesperson
Johnathan Underland said. On the campaign trail, Becerra has called
himself California’s next “healthcare governor” and has previously
floated raising taxes to reverse Medi-Cal cuts, but has not released
detailed health policy plans.
Camille Nguyen, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo
County, said most people who struggle to stay under the limit have
little financial security.
“They have all of their life savings in cash savings instead of a
house. That’s their retirement. That is the amount they are
expecting to live off of for the rest of their life,” Nguyen said.
State data shows about 600 people lost Medi-Cal when California
reinstated the $130,000 limit. Advocates expect many more to lose
Medi-Cal at the lower limit, but the state never released budget
estimates before lawmakers approved the $21,000 limit. If the state
reinstated the much lower $2,000 limit, the Department of Finance
estimated 62,000 seniors and people with disabilities would lose
Medi-Cal over two years.
Limit fuels anxiety, anger among people with disabilities
Feinberg said the prospect of losing Medi-Cal is especially scary
because she would also lose access to a special disability program
that pays for extra caregiving hours and has a multiyear waitlist.
Caregivers help Feinberg get in and out of bed, dress and prepare
her meals.
Before the limit was erased in 2024, Feinberg said she checked her
bank account every day to make sure the balance was low. At the
time, Feinberg was a graduate student and did not earn very much
money. Now, as a licensed therapist Feinberg has been able to
squirrel away some money.
“I don’t want to spend down that money. I want to save that for
retirement, maybe buying a house in the future,” Feinberg said. “The
prospect of not being able to have a nest egg is very unsettling.”
Guéçamburu said she’s angry and frustrated that the state views
services for people with disabilities as expendable.
“It’s exhausting to have to justify your existence every legislative
cycle,” she said.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
