Governor Newsom’s May Revision of the proposed 2026-27 state budget includes cuts to older adults’ access to health and long-term care that will only make it more unaffordable to age in California. 

The demographics of California are shifting rapidly. By 2030, 1 in 4 Californians will be over the age of 60, and many will live on low, fixed incomes at a time when inflation is rising rapidly. In 2021 the Governor released a Master Plan for Aging to address this demographic shift and ensure that California is a state where we all can afford to age while staying connected to our families and communities. The implementation of the Master Plan for Aging contained real changes that improved the lives of older adults. Unfortunately, the May Revision rolls back many of these improvements, erasing years of work and breaking the Master Plan for Aging’s promise to build a California for all ages and stages.

Medi-Cal Asset Limit
We strongly oppose the Governor’s proposal to strip health and long-term care, including In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), from tens of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities on fixed incomes by reinstating the $2,000 Medi-Cal asset limit. This proposal is punitive and unfairly targets older adults and people with disabilities on Medi-Cal – no other group on Medi-Cal has an asset limit. A $2,000 asset limit will force older adults and people with disabilities to live in deep poverty in order to access essential care, and punish those who have been able to save minimal resources by terminating their coverage.

Eliminating the asset limit back in 2024 was one of the most impactful accomplishments under the state’s Master Plan for Aging, making California the clear national leader in addressing health care affordability for older adults. Adding back the asset limit last year was a step backwards, and the proposal to now significantly lower the asset limit to just $2,000 would be a complete reversal of a wildly popular policy that substantially improved the everyday lives of tens of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities.

In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
We also oppose the proposed cuts to the IHSS program, which are maintained in the May Revision. Shifting more of the costs of IHSS to counties and eliminating the back-up provider system will result in older adults and people with disabilities losing access to critical IHSS care, which is far more cost-effective for the state than nursing facility care. In the face of federal attacks on home care programs, including IHSS, California needs to stand strong and defend the most successful caregiving program in the nation. Yet these proposed cuts do the opposite—weakening the program low-income older adults and people with disabilities need to stay in their homes, in the name of a balanced budget.

Older Immigrants
In addition, we oppose the Governor’s proposals to further cut health care access for immigrants, including older immigrants. The proposals to freeze enrollment, impose monthly premiums, and eliminate dental coverage will deprive older Californians of the care they need now and in the future.  These proposals come on the heels of cuts to care for immigrants that were part of last year’s state budget and in H.R. 1, further deepening the affordability crisis impacting older adults in immigrant communities at a time when they are already being targeted through federal policies.

Adult Protective Services
Finally, we oppose the proposal to reverse course on another major Master Plan for Aging accomplishment: expanding access to Adult Protective Services to more older people at risk of abuse and fraud. The proposal to arbitrarily raise the age of eligibility for services from 60 to 65 leaves older adults in our communities less safe.

We recognize that the state faces very real budget shortfalls. However, we know from experience that any short-term budget relief that may come from weakening the safety net only leads to deeper and more challenging problems in the future and immediate harm to older adults.

We cannot cut our way out of this demographic shift that is happening in our state and across the country. To ensure that access to health care and other critical services remain accessible to all of us as we age, we need to focus on raising revenue, not cutting services. Instead of instituting policies that amplify the harms of the federal government, we urge California to defend all Californians and institute policies that protect, instead of cut, benefits and health care.

These policies undermine the Governor’s commitment to the Master Plan for Aging that creates communities where older adults and disabled people are valued and cared for. Justice in Aging will work with the Legislature and Administration to prevent these harmful proposals from taking effect.