Texas 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 Texas Health and Human Services Commission 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 Texas
Income limits are monthly. Asset limits count only what Texas treats as countable — a home you live in and one car usually sit outside that, within limits.
Nursing facility (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:
- $2,982 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $2,000
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $5,964 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $3,000
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- $2,982 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $2,000
Home and community based services waiver (STAR+PLUS HCBS and related 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:
- $2,982 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $2,000
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $5,964 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $3,000
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- $2,982 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $2,000
Medicaid for the Aged and People with Disabilities (SSI-related)
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:
- $994 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $2,000
Married, both applying
- Monthly income limit:
- $1,491 a month
- Countable asset limit:
- $3,000
Married, one applying — the other stays at home
- Monthly income limit:
- Not published
- Countable asset limit:
- Not published
"Not published" means Texas does not publish a separate figure for that combination — not that there is no limit. Ask Texas Health and Human Services Commission rather than assuming another row applies.
The look-back period
60 months
That is 5 years. When you apply, Texas 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.
Particular to Texas
- When only one spouse needs long-term care, Texas tests that spouse on their own income against the individual limit — the at-home spouse's income is not counted against it. That is why the same $2,982 figure appears in the single row and the married-one-applying row.
- Texas prints one line for all three long-term-care settings: "CAS, Waiver, Institutional Individual Income Limit $2,982" and "Couple Income Limit $5,964", both effective Jan. 1, 2026. The nursing-home and waiver limits are therefore the same number, published together.
- The $2,982 figure is three times the 2026 SSI federal benefit rate, which the same chart prints as $994 for an individual.
- Income above the limit does not automatically disqualify you in Texas. A Qualified Income Trust — the state calls it a QIT or Miller Trust — lets income above $2,982 be set aside so it is not counted.
- The look-back period is 60 months. The Texas MEPD handbook I-2100 states: "Under post-DRA transfer of assets policy, the look-back period is 60 months from the later of the date of" the application file date or the institutional entry date.
- Texas calls the amount the at-home spouse may keep the Spousal Protected Resource Amount (SPRA). The handbook describes how it is calculated but does not print the current minimum and maximum dollar figures on a public page, so no figure is shown here.
Verified 2026-08-02 against Texas Health and Human Services, STAR+PLUS Handbook Appendix VIII, Monthly Income/Resource Limits — 2026 Income and Resource Reference Chart (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.
Texas Health and Human Services Commission 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.
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 Texas — 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 Texas 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 Texas Health and Human Services Commission 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 Texas Health and Human Services Commission is printed in the stamp above.
Common questions
- What are the Medicaid long-term-care limits in Texas?
- Texas 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. Texas 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.