Florida Medicaid Long-Term Care Numbers for 2026, On One Page

Celia's Problem, and Why Five Websites Gave Her Five Numbers

Celia is 61, lives in Port Orange, and has spent two weekends trying to build one clean page of numbers for her parents' situation. Her mother may need nursing home care soon. Her father, healthy and still driving, would stay in the house. Every site Celia found had a different figure for the same term, and she couldn't tell which ones were current, which were national averages, and which were just wrong.

Celia is a composite we use to illustrate how this works. She is not a Truestead client, and her parents aren't real people. But her confusion is completely real, and it's the most common starting point we see in this part of our practice.

Here is why the numbers conflict: some figures are set by the federal government and change every January. Others are set by the State of Florida and change every July. A website published in March might be accurate for January numbers but already stale on the July ones, or vice versa. This page tells you which is which, and when each figure was last confirmed.

The Core Numbers: Income, Assets, and Home Equity

• Income cap (single applicant): $2,982 per month, confirmed as of January 2026. This is the gross income ceiling for one person applying for nursing home or long-term care Medicaid in Florida. Florida is a strict income-cap state: go even one dollar over, and the applicant needs a Qualified Income Trust to qualify, a tool we cover in a separate article.
• Income cap (married, both spouses applying): $5,964 per month combined, confirmed as of January 2026.
• Asset limit, one applicant: $2,000 in countable assets, confirmed as of January 2026. This is federal policy administered by the state and does not move much year to year.
• Asset limit, two applicants (married, both applying): $3,000 combined, confirmed as of January 2026.
• Home equity limit: $752,000, confirmed as of January 2026. This caps how much equity an applicant's home can carry and still be treated as a non-countable asset. Above that figure, the home itself can become a countable resource unless an exception applies.

Why "gross" income matters: Medicaid counts income before taxes, insurance premiums, or other deductions come out. A parent whose pension and Social Security add up to $3,100 a month is over the cap even if their take-home pay, after Medicare premiums, is lower. This trips up more families than almost any other number on this page.

The Spousal Numbers: What the Healthy Spouse Keeps

These figures exist to prevent a healthy spouse (sometimes called the community spouse) from being impoverished when the other spouse needs nursing home care. They are federal in origin, implemented through Florida regulation, and they move on their own separate schedule.

• Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA): the healthy spouse can generally keep up to $162,660 in countable assets, confirmed as of early-to-mid 2026, on top of the $2,000 the applicant spouse is allowed. We note that at least one source this year cited a slightly higher figure; families should confirm the exact current number with an elder law attorney or DCF before relying on it for a filing.
• Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA), floor: $2,705 per month, effective July 1, 2026. If the healthy spouse's own income falls below this floor, income is diverted from the Medicaid spouse to bring them up to it, before the nursing home ever sees that money.
• MMMNA, ceiling: $4,066.50 per month, confirmed as of January 2026. High housing and utility costs can raise the floor dollar for dollar up to this maximum, through what's called the excess shelter standard.

Penalty Divisor, Look-Back, and the Numbers People Forget

• Penalty divisor: $10,645, confirmed as of 2026. This is the dollar figure Florida uses to convert any disqualifying gift or transfer into a period of ineligibility. Divide the transferred amount by this figure, and the result (rounded) is roughly how many months of penalty apply. We walk through this math in detail in our penalty-period article.
• Look-back period: 60 months (five years) before the application date, during which DCF reviews financial records for disqualifying transfers. This figure is set by federal law and has been stable for years.
• Retroactive coverage: Florida Medicaid can, in the right circumstances, cover eligible care going back up to three months before the month of application, which matters enormously for families applying after a crisis admission rather than ahead of one.
• Personal Needs Allowance (PNA): $160 per month, confirmed as of 2026. This is the amount a Medicaid nursing home resident keeps for personal expenses, from the income that would otherwise go entirely to the facility.

Celia used this list to check her parents' situation line by line. Her mother's gross monthly income, Social Security plus a small pension, landed under the $2,982 cap, so no Qualified Income Trust would be needed on current numbers. Her parents' combined countable assets were well above $2,000, which told Celia that spend-down planning, not a straightforward application, was the right next conversation. And because her father intends to stay in the home, the CSRA and MMMNA figures, not the single-applicant numbers, were the ones that actually mattered for his future.

Who Sets Each Number, and Who to Call

It helps to know which agency does what, because each one answers different questions.

• The Department of Children and Families (DCF), through its online ACCESS system, is the agency that actually takes and processes a Medicaid long-term care application and applies these dollar figures to a specific family's facts.
• CARES, housed within the Department of Elder Affairs, handles the medical and functional eligibility review, confirming that an applicant actually needs a nursing-home level of care.
• The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) oversees Florida's Medicaid program and the managed care plans that deliver long-term care services once someone is approved.
• Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) are a good first call for families just starting to sort out options, waiting lists, and local resources, before a formal application is filed.
• If a figure is misapplied or an application is denied, the Office of Appeal Hearings is where a family can formally challenge that decision.

Sources

• Elder Needs Law, "2026 Community Spouse Resource Allowance: What Florida Married Couples Need to Know" (March 2026)
• Elder Needs Law, "Florida Medicaid Planning: The Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance Explained" (April 2026)
• Elder Needs Law, "Important Changes to Florida Medicaid in 2026" (April 2026)
• Berg Bryant Elder Law Group, "Florida Medicaid Income and Asset Limits for 2026" (January 2026)
• Lee Law Group, "Medicaid Asset Limits in Florida" (February 2026)
• Nolo Legal Encyclopedia, "When Medicaid in Florida Will Pay for Nursing Home Care" (June 2026)

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, nor does reading it create an attorney-client relationship. Florida estate, elder, probate, and real estate law are fact-specific and change over time. Consult a licensed Florida attorney about your individual circumstances. Arthur Simpson, Esq. is licensed to practice law in the State of Florida. Attorney advertising.