Eligibility
Eligibility for Chronic Care Medicaid
While Medicaid is a federal program, States are permitted to manage the program as they deem appropriate so long as they stay within the federal guidelines. This means that each states eligibility criteria may be different. There can even be differences in how applications are processed from County to County.
In general, the eligibility for Chronic Care Medicaid which covers the cost of nursing home care in New York is as follows for 2025:
ASSETS
Single Person |
A single person may maintain total assets of $32,396. Assets include all types of bank accounts, investment accounts, shares of stock, the cash surrender value of life insurance policies, real estate and automobiles. |
Married Couple |
In addition to the Medicaid application being permitted to keep up to $32,396 of assets, the community spouse is permitted a minimum asset allowance of $74,820. Depending on the total assets upon the date of admission to the nursing home, it may be possible for the community spouse to keep up to a maximum of $157,920. |
INCOME
Single Person |
Once on Medicaid, a single person in a nursing home is only entitled to keep $50 of their gross monthly income. Income includes Social Security, pensions, interest and dividends and distributions from qualified retirements accounts such as IRA’s, 401K’s or 403B’s. |
Married Couple |
The community spouse is entitled to keep gross monthly income of $3,948.00. If their own income is less than that, they may take the Medicaid applications income to bring them up to $3,948.00. However, if the community spouse’s income, on its own, exceeds $3,948.00, then they will be required to contribute 25% of the excess income above $3,948.00 towards the nursing home cost. |
