Indiana Medicaid’s Spousal Impoverishment Rules
When a married couple applies for Medicaid benefits for the spouse who resides in a nursing home or hospital (referred to as the “Institutionalized Spouse”), the other spouse who resides at home (referred to as the “Community Spouse”) may be able to protect assets (referred to as “resources” by Medicaid) from Medicaid’s regular resource rules. These protections are called impoverishment rules and are meant to protect the Community Spouse from going into poverty due to applying for Medicaid benefits for their spouse. The impoverishment rules protect the couple’s home, one vehicle, and a share of the couple’s total resources.
Before the Community Spouse can determine how much of their assets can be protected based on the impoverishment rules, the Community Spouse must determine the Institutionalized Spouse’s Snapshot Date. The Snapshot Date is defined as the first day of a continuous thirty-day period of time that the Institutionalized Spouse remained in a facility away from home on or after September 30, 1989. For example, if the husband was admitted into the hospital on January 1, 2020, and remained in the hospital for 10 days until he was discharged directly to a nursing home where he resided for an additional 27 days, then the husband’s Snapshot Date would be January 1, 2020, because he remained institutionalized (in a hospital and then a nursing home) for a continuous period of at least 30 days.
After determining the Snapshot Date, the Community Spouse should add up the values of all the countable resources owned by the spouses on the Snapshot Date- excluding certain exempt resources (the home and one vehicle) due to the impoverishment rules. Removing the home and one vehicle from calculating the total amount of countable resources can have significant savings and protection for married spouses. And for some spouses who need to spend down some of their resources in order to qualify for Medicaid, the spouses might spend down their resources by making repairs to their home or trading in a used vehicle for a newer vehicle since these are both exempt resources.
After calculating the total amount of all countable resources as of the date of the Snapshot Date, the Community Spouse can then determine his or her Spousal Share of those total resources. The Spousal Share is an amount of the total resources that is protected from Medicaid due to the impoverishment rules. Generally, the Spousal Share is one-half of the total countable resources; however, it depends on floor and ceiling amounts designated by Medicaid. For the calendar year 2026, Medicaid designated the floor amount to be $32,532 and the ceiling amount to be $162,660. This means that if the total resources exceed $325,320, then the Community Spouse’s Spousal Share is capped at $162,660 of the total resources; if the total sources are greater than $32,532 but less than $325,320, then the Community Spouse’s Spousal Share is one-half of the resources; if the total resources are $65,064 or less, then the Community Spouse’s Spousal Share is $32,532 of the resources; and if the total resources are less than $32,532, then the Community Spouse can keep all of the resources. The floor and ceiling amounts are adjusted on January 1st of each year due to inflation.
It is important to discuss your specific situation with a knowledgeable elder law attorney who can assist you with any Medicaid related issues.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.