Florida Medicaid Income and Asset Limits for 2026

Florida is an "income cap" state. If the applicant's gross monthly income from every source (Social Security, pensions, annuity payments, IRA distributions, VA benefits, rental income) is more than $2,982, the person is not eligible, full stop, unless a Qualified Income Trust is in place. The cap is 300% of the federal SSI benefit rate and changes each January.

Being over the cap is not the end of the road. It is the most common eligibility problem we see, and it is solved every day with a Qualified Income Trust. What it cannot be solved by is simply applying and hoping; an over-income application is denied.

A single applicant may have $2,000 in countable assets. A married couple who are both applying may have $3,000 between them. "Countable" is the key word: the home (up to the equity limit, or without limit when a spouse or certain relatives live there), one vehicle, personal belongings, an irrevocable prepaid funeral, term life insurance, and, in Florida, retirement accounts that are in regular payout status, do not count.

Everything else does: checking and savings, CDs, brokerage accounts, cash-value life insurance over a small threshold, a second property, a boat, and the applicant's share of anything owned jointly. Florida counts the whole balance of a joint account as the applicant's unless the other owner can prove their contributions. See our spend-down guide for what can lawfully be done with assets over the limit.

When one spouse needs care and the other stays in the community, Florida lets the community spouse keep countable assets up to the Community Spouse Resource Allowance, which is $162,660 in 2026. Florida applies the federal maximum, so the community spouse does not have to prove that half of the couple's assets reaches that figure.

The community spouse is also guaranteed a minimum income, the Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance. In 2026 it is at least $2,705 a month, and it can be raised as high as $4,066.50 when the spouse's housing costs are high. If the community spouse's own income is below the allowance, the difference is diverted from the nursing home spouse's income before the patient responsibility is calculated. Our community spouse guide goes through these rules in detail.

Gifts and other transfers for less than fair market value within the 60-month look-back period create a penalty period, calculated by dividing the total transferred by Florida's penalty divisor, currently $10,645 per month. A $50,000 gift, for example, produces a penalty of about 4.7 months during which Medicaid will not pay for care, even though the applicant is otherwise eligible. The divisor is DCF's figure for the average monthly cost of a Florida nursing home and is updated periodically. Read the look-back guide before assuming any transfer is safe.

A Florida homestead is an exempt asset as long as the applicant intends to return to it or a spouse or dependent relative lives there. There is a limit on how much equity that exemption covers: $752,000 in 2026. The limit does not apply at all when the applicant's spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child lives in the home.

Once approved, a nursing home resident keeps $160 a month of income as a personal needs allowance. After that, and after any diversion to a community spouse, the rest of the resident's income is paid to the facility each month as the "patient responsibility," and Medicaid pays the balance of the facility's Medicaid rate.