New York Medicaid long-term care: who qualifies
Medicaid is the biggest payer of long-term care in the country — nursing homes, and increasingly care at home — and Medicare is not. Qualifying turns on two tests: a financial one, which is the tables below, and a functional one, which asks how much help you need with daily life. You have to pass both.
Read this before you read the numbers.
These figures are a starting point for a conversation, not a decision. Medicaid eligibility is decided by New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs on the whole picture — income, assets, the look-back, your medical need, and rules that differ for a married couple in ways no table holds. Nothing here is legal advice.
The 2026 limits in New York
Income limits are monthly. Asset limits count only what New York treats as countable — a home you live in and one car usually sit outside that, within limits.
Nursing home (institutional) Medicaid
Level of care needed: A doctor and the state must both agree you need the level of care a nursing home provides — help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, eating or moving about, or skilled nursing care.
One person applying
- Monthly income limit:
- Not published
- Countable asset limit:
- $33,038
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- Not published
- Countable asset limit:
- $44,796
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- Not published
- Countable asset limit:
- $33,038
Community-based long-term care and home and community based waivers
Level of care needed: You must need the same nursing-home level of care, but you get the care at home or in the community instead of moving into a facility.
One person applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $1,836 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $33,038
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $2,489 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $44,796
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- $1,836 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $33,038
Regular Medicaid for the aged, blind and disabled (SSI-related, non-MAGI)
Level of care needed: No nursing-home level of care is required. You qualify on age (65+), blindness or disability alone.
One person applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $1,836 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $33,038
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $2,489 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $44,796
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- Not published
- Countable asset limit:
- Not published
"Not published" means New York does not publish a separate figure for that combination — not that there is no limit. Ask New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs rather than assuming another row applies.
The look-back period
60 months
That is 5 years. When you apply, New York looks back over that window at money and property given away or sold for less than it was worth. Transfers found there can trigger a penalty period — a stretch of time during which Medicaid will not pay, calculated from the amount transferred. It is the single most common way a family gets a nasty surprise.
If one spouse stays at home
When one spouse needs care and the other remains at home, the law does not expect the spouse at home to be left with nothing. They may keep a share of the couple's countable assets — the community spouse resource allowance — between $74,820 and $162,660, depending on the couple's circumstances.
There is a matching protection for income. This is the area where good advice pays for itself several times over, and where a form filled in wrongly is expensive to undo.
Particular to New York
- New York sets NO income limit for nursing home Medicaid. You are not turned down for having too much income; instead almost all of your monthly income goes to the nursing home toward your care. The state's 2026 standards chart shows an institutionalized spouse keeping $50 a month — that is a personal needs allowance, not an eligibility limit, which is why no income figure is shown in the nursing-home row above.
- The resource figures are New York's SSI-related non-MAGI standards: $33,038 for a household of one and $44,796 for a household of two, effective January 1, 2026. New York's resource limits are far higher than the $2,000 most states use.
- For community-based long-term care and waiver services New York applies its non-MAGI Medicaid income level: $1,836 a month for one person and $2,489 for two, effective January 1, 2026.
- If only one spouse needs care, the at-home spouse keeps a monthly income allowance of $4,066.50 and may retain resources equal to the greater of $74,820 or half the couple's countable resources up to $162,660.
- The look-back period for nursing home care is 60 months. GIS 14 MA/016 states the look-back "period is the 60 months prior to the first month of institutionalization".
- New York publishes separate housing-expense standards by region that affect community budgeting, from $402 in the Western region to $2,104 in New York City.
Verified 2026-08-02 against New York State Department of Health, GIS 26 MA/05 Attachment 1 — New York State Income and Resource Standards for Non-MAGI Population, Effective January 1, 2026 (effective 2026-01-01)
Who to ask, and in what order
This page is not legal advice. It is a transcription of published limits, and limits are the easy part. Whether a particular house, annuity, trust or transfer counts — and what to do about it — depends on facts we cannot see.
New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs decides
Only the state agency can determine eligibility, and only their published materials are authoritative. If what you read here ever disagrees with what they say, they are right and we are wrong — please tell us.
New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs ↗
An elder-law attorney is the right professional
For anything involving a house, a transfer already made, a trust, a second marriage, or a spouse staying at home, this is a job for a lawyer who does Medicaid planning in New York — not for a form-filling service. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys ↗ keeps a directory. Many will do a paid first meeting for a fixed fee; ask what it costs when you book.
Free help first, if money is tight
The free counseling program in New York will talk any of this through at no charge and sells nothing, and the Eldercare Locator (ACL): 1-800-677-1116 ↗ connects you to the area agency on aging for your county.
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs can determine your actual amounts. Limits change — sometimes in January, sometimes on a schedule of the state's own — and a figure that was right last year may not be right today. The date we last checked these against New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs is printed in the stamp above.
Common questions
- What are the Medicaid long-term-care limits in New York?
- New York sets a monthly income limit and a countable asset limit, and both depend on which program you are applying to and whether you are single or married. The figures on this page are transcribed from the state agency's own published materials, with the date we checked them printed beside the table.
- Does the house count against the asset limit?
- Usually not while you or a spouse live in it, and often not up to an equity limit — but the rules are specific, they differ by state, and estate recovery after death is a separate question. This is exactly the kind of thing to take to an elder-law attorney rather than settle from a web page.
- Can I give money away to qualify?
- No. New York looks back at transfers made in the years before an application and can impose a penalty period of ineligibility for gifts made during it. Get advice before moving any money.