ALW guide
Can your parent afford assisted living on Social Security or SSI?
A Social Security check rarely covers private assisted living. With Medi-Cal's waiver, Medi-Cal pays the care and income pays room and board. 2026 SSI figures.
Paying the full private price on a Social Security check alone is rarely possible: the 2024 national survey median for assisted living was $70,800 a year. What can work in California is Medi-Cal's Assisted Living Waiver (ALW). Medi-Cal pays the home for care, and your parent pays room and board from income. On SSI/SSP in a licensed home in 2026, your parent gets $1,626.07 a month, the home may charge at most $1,444.07, and your parent keeps at least $182.
Important: The county decides Medi-Cal. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) decides ALW eligibility after a nurse assessment, and there is a waitlist. Beta's ALW team is a Care Coordination Agency. It can't promise eligibility, an opening, a date or a room.
Why a Social Security check rarely covers assisted living
A private-pay home charges for everything in one monthly fee: the room, the meals and the care. The national median for assisted living in 2024 was $70,800 a year, about $5,900 a month, in the Genworth and CareScout survey. That survey publishes no California figure we could check, so ask each home for its rate in writing. Either way, the care is the part most families cannot cover from a monthly benefit.
How Medi-Cal splits the bill
Under ALW, the bill splits in two. Medi-Cal pays the home a daily rate for care and pays the Care Coordination Agency for coordination. Your parent pays room and board, the room and the meals, from income. ALW never pays room and board. What ALW costs has every 2026 figure.
ALW runs in fifteen California counties, for adults 21 and older who have full-scope Medi-Cal with no monthly share of cost and who need the level of care a nursing home gives. Read the six requirements.
If your parent gets SSI
SSI/SSP is Supplemental Security Income plus California's State Supplementary Payment. It goes to people 65 or older, blind or disabled with little income and few assets. The 2026 figures for someone living in a licensed care home, from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS):
| 2026 figure | Amount a month |
|---|---|
| SSI/SSP for a person in a licensed care home | $1,626.07 |
| Most the home may charge for room, board and basic services | $1,444.07 |
| What your parent keeps for personal needs, at least | $182.00 |
A home may charge up to $20 more a month only if the admission agreement says so. The care itself is never billed to your parent under ALW.
If your parent gets Social Security retirement or disability
No ALW rule requires SSI. ALW does require full-scope Medi-Cal with no monthly share of cost, and enough money for room and board with some left for personal needs. If your parent's income comes from Social Security or elsewhere, ask the home for its room-and-board rate in writing, because DHCS does not cap those rates.
That leaves two questions to check with the county Medi-Cal office:
- Is the check too high? From April 1, 2026, the no-share-of-cost figure in Medi-Cal's Aged, Blind and Disabled group is $1,836 a month for one person. Above it, a share of cost may apply, and a share of cost rules out ALW until it is cleared. Other Medi-Cal groups have other rules. Medi-Cal with no share of cost and the income and asset limits explain what to ask.
- Is the check too low? Your parent needs enough to pay the home's room and board and keep some for personal needs. If the check is small, ask Social Security whether your parent also qualifies for SSI.
Since January 1, 2026, Medi-Cal also counts assets again for older and disabled adults: $130,000 for one person through June 30, 2027. The limit drops on July 1, 2027.
The waitlist
ALW has a statewide waitlist, and DHCS releases openings in priority order. People leaving a nursing facility after at least 60 days come first. No agency can move your parent up. While you wait, your parent can pay privately or stay home with help. How the waitlist works.
Other help to look at
- IHSS: In-Home Supportive Services pays for a caregiver's hours at home, and ends when your parent moves into a licensed home. IHSS or ALW.
- VA Aid and Attendance is a monthly addition to a VA pension for wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need daily help. Aid and Attendance and ALW.
- SSI: if your parent has little income and few assets and does not get SSI, apply with the Social Security Administration.
All the ways to pay for assisted living in California. If your parent's Medi-Cal comes through a health plan, see your Medi-Cal plan and assisted living.
What people ask
Does SSI pay for assisted living?
SSI pays your parent, and your parent pays the home. In a licensed home, SSI/SSP covers room, board and basic services up to $1,444.07 a month in 2026. It does not pay for the care. Under ALW, Medi-Cal pays for the care.
What if my parent can't afford assisted living at all?
Call the county about Medi-Cal and ask a Care Coordination Agency about ALW. Ask Social Security about SSI if your parent's income is low. If staying home is the plan, ask about IHSS. Running out of money in assisted living covers a parent who is already in a home.
Can my parent get assisted living on Social Security disability?
Yes, the same way. ALW is for adults 21 and older. Disability income counts as income for Medi-Cal, so the share-of-cost check above applies. An adult under 60 lives in an Adult Residential Facility. ALW for adults under 60.
Do I have to pay for my parent's assisted living?
ALW does not require family to pay. Your parent pays room and board from their own income. Some families choose to help, for example with a private room.
Is a board and care home cheaper?
Under ALW, the most a home may charge a resident on SSI/SSP is the same in a small home and a large one. Board and care or assisted living.
Request a callback and Beta's ALW team will tell you which of the six requirements looks uncertain for your parent and what to ask the county first.
About this informationReviewed October 28, 2026. Program details may change. View official sources and page limitations.
Written by Beta's ALW team and reviewed by Sergio B., Program Coordinator, against the official sources this page lists; facts checked through October 28, 2026. Where this page and an official source differ, the source controls.
This page gives general California ALW information. DHCS decides eligibility after the nurse assessment and releases openings. Each home decides its own admissions. Nothing here is an eligibility decision or a promise of enrollment, and it does not guarantee a place in a home. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency listed by DHCS and any participating home.
Something out of date? Tell Beta's ALW team.