Vermont Long-Term Care Medicaid can pay for care in your parent's own home, in an approved residential care home or assisted-living facility, or in an approved nursing home. Care in Vermont is costly: in the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, Vermont is in the top 10 highest costs in all categories nationally. Vermont prices at that level can make any plan feel out of reach, so take the sources one at a time. The main ways to pay for senior care in Vermont are the family's own income and savings, Medicare's short-term skilled nursing coverage, Vermont Medicaid through Choices for Care, VA benefits and any long-term care insurance., A Vermont family can draw on more than one of them, so check each against your parent's situation.

In This Guide

What Will Care Cost in Vermont?

Before you can build a plan, you need the number the plan has to cover, and in Vermont that number is high. A Vermont figure this size is hard to set beside your parent's savings. Every Vermont median below is from the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released March 2, 2026, the most recent state-level data.

Vermont care setting Vermont 2025 median National median
Assisted living About $103,167 a year $74,400 a year
Nursing home, semi-private room About $169,360 a year About $114,975 a year
Nursing home, private room About $186,333 a year About $129,575 a year
In-home non-medical caregiver care About $102,960 a year ($8,580 a month) About $80,080 a year

CareScout's Vermont assisted living median of about $103,167 a year is the 5th highest of any state, and its Vermont in-home care median of about $102,960 a year is the 2nd highest. CareScout annualizes the national in-home figure from a $35 hourly median, assuming 44 hours of care a week. CareScout's Vermont figures are industry-survey medians collected from long-term care providers between July and November 2025, not government figures, and costs vary within Vermont and rise as care needs grow. More detail, setting by setting: the cost of senior care in Vermont.

Paying for Senior Care in Vermont From Your Own Money

Start with your parent's own money: Social Security, a pension, savings, and sometimes the house. Vermont's tax rules can help that money go further.

Keeping More of Your Retirement Income

Vermont taxes Social Security benefits, but it excludes them entirely below an income line set by 32 V.S.A. section 5830e(a). For a single filer, all federally taxable Social Security benefits are excluded from Vermont income tax at federal adjusted gross income at or below $55,000, the Vermont exclusion phases out between $55,000 and $65,000, and none is excluded at $65,000 or more. For married couples filing jointly, Vermont's full Social Security exclusion runs to federal adjusted gross income of $70,000, phasing out between $70,000 and $80,000.

If your parent retired from the military, Vermont is more generous still. Under 32 V.S.A. section 5830e(d), Vermont excludes all federally taxable U.S. military retirement income and survivor benefit income at federal adjusted gross income at or below $125,000, phasing out to zero at $175,000, and a military retiree can take that exclusion on top of the Social Security exclusion. Ordinary IRA and 401(k) distributions are taxed in Vermont, at rates graduated from 3.35 percent to a top rate of 8.75 percent. Detail: how Vermont taxes retirement income.

The Property Tax Credit, at Any Age

Vermont has no senior-specific property tax exemption or freeze. Its main property-tax relief for older homeowners is the Vermont Property Tax Credit, claimed on Form HS-122 Section B with Schedule HI-144, and it is open to Vermont homestead owners of any age. The Vermont Department of Taxes states the maximum credit in two parts: $5,600 for the State education property tax portion and $2,400 for the municipal property tax portion. For tax year 2025, the Department's table gives the maximum household income for the Vermont Property Tax Credit as $115,400.

The Vermont credit is a formula, not a flat amount, so it varies with both the home's value and the household's income, and it rises as income falls. To claim the Vermont Property Tax Credit, the property must qualify as a homestead with a Homestead Declaration filed for the current year's grand list, and the claimant must have been domiciled in Vermont for the entire taxable year, must not have been claimed as someone else's dependent, and must have owned and occupied the home as of April 1.

One exception matters a great deal once care begins. If your parent has moved in with family or into care and the house is rented out, the Vermont Department of Taxes says a homestead leased to a tenant as of April 1 can still be claimed if it is not leased for more than 182 days in the claim year. The Vermont Property Tax Credit claim is generally due April 15, with the income tax return and Homestead Declaration. Filing detail: Vermont senior property tax relief.

A veteran homeowner may have a second layer. Vermont's veterans' property-tax exemption under 32 V.S.A. section 3802(11) exempts $10,000 of appraisal value on the home of a veteran, or a spouse, widow, widower or child, when one of them receives disability compensation for at least 50 percent disability, death compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or a pension for disability paid through a military department or the VA, and a town may vote to raise the Vermont exemption to up to $40,000. The application for Vermont's veterans' property-tax exemption goes to the Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs before May 1. Detail: the Vermont disabled veteran property tax exemption.

Borrowing Against the House

Every route to borrowing against the house is secured by the home and reduces the equity the owner or the heirs would otherwise keep, and a home equity loan or line of credit usually carries monthly payments. The federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is open to homeowners 62 and older through an FHA-approved lender, needs no monthly mortgage payments, and adds interest and fees to the loan balance each month, so the balance grows and the equity shrinks. The HECM rule that matters most for care: if the borrower is away for more than 12 consecutive months in a healthcare facility such as a nursing home or assisted living facility and no co-borrower lives in the home, anyone else living there must move out unless they can repay the loan or qualify as an Eligible Non-Borrowing Spouse. So a HECM tends to fit care delivered at home far better than a permanent move into a facility. More: home equity options for senior care.

Not sure which of these your family qualifies for? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com.

What Medicare Pays For, and What It Won't

Medicare, in Vermont as everywhere, does not cover custodial care, the non-medical help with bathing, dressing and using the bathroom, when that is the only care a person needs, which is why Medicare does not pay for a long-term stay in a nursing home or an assisted living facility.

Medicare Part A pays for skilled nursing facility care on a short-term, post-acute basis, up to 100 days per benefit period, and it generally requires a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three consecutive days first. Time under observation or in the emergency room before admission does not count toward Medicare's three-day qualifying hospital stay, even overnight. A Medicare patient admitted as an inpatient whose hospital changes their status to outpatient observation can ask for a fast appeal while still in the hospital.

In 2026 a Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility stay costs $0 a day for days 1 through 20 after the $1,736 deductible, which is not owed again if you already paid it for hospital care in the same benefit period; $217 a day for days 21 through 100; and after day 100, Medicare pays nothing. If your parent is in a rehab bed now, use those weeks to start the Medicaid paperwork. See also Medicare plans and coverage in Vermont.

How to Pay for Senior Care in Vermont With Medicaid

When savings run low, Vermont Medicaid is the program that can keep care going. Vermont's long-term care Medicaid runs under the Global Commitment to Health, a Section 1115 demonstration waiver, and its long-term care programs include Choices for Care.

To qualify for Vermont Long-Term Care Medicaid (Choices for Care), your parent must be a Vermont resident, be at least 65 (or at least 18 with a physical disability), meet the financial criteria, and meet the clinical criteria for nursing home level of care. The Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) decides financial eligibility and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living decides clinical eligibility for Choices for Care.

On income, Vermont's rules set the institutional income standard at 300 percent of the maximum Supplemental Security Income (SSI) federal payment, which is $2,982 a month for 2026. If your mother's income is above $2,982 a month, Vermont also runs a medically needy coverage group, so someone whose income or resources exceed the categorically-needy limits may still qualify by spending down. The full income rules are in our guide to Vermont Medicaid income and asset limits.

On assets, the Vermont Choices for Care countable resource limit is $2,000 for a single person and $3,000 for two people, or $5,000 if you own your home and continue to live in it. Vermont's $5,000 Choices for Care limit for a homeowner is a home-based long-term care disregard: an extra $3,000 for a single homeowner who chooses to receive Medicaid long-term care at home, and it lasts only until the person begins receiving care in an institution or in a residential care home that provides enhanced residential care, then for up to 6 more months if the home upkeep deduction requirements are met. Vermont's rule excludes, among other things, all automobiles used for necessary transportation and up to $10,000 of burial funds designated for burial expenses.

To apply, complete Vermont's Application for Long-Term Care Medicaid (form 202LTC) and mail it to Green Mountain Care's Application and Document Processing Center in Waterbury. For help applying for Choices for Care, DVHA points families to the Vermont Senior Helpline at 1-800-642-5119, the local Vermont Area Agency on Aging, or the local home health agency. Step by step: how to apply for Vermont Medicaid. If a Vermont Medicaid decision goes against you, see Vermont Medicaid appeals and fair hearings.

The Five-Year Look-Back

Federal Medicaid law, which Vermont applies, sets a 60-month look-back on assets disposed of for less than fair market value on or after February 8, 2006. A transfer inside the window triggers a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay for long-term care, calculated by dividing the total uncompensated value by the state's average monthly private-pay cost of nursing-facility care. The Medicaid transfer penalty is not a denial of all Medicaid coverage: it blocks nursing facility services and home and community-based waiver services for the penalty months.

Not every transfer is penalized. Under federal Medicaid law, a home can pass without penalty to a spouse; to a child under 21 or a child who is blind or permanently and totally disabled; or to a son or daughter who lived there at least two years before the institutionalization and provided care that let the parent stay home rather than in a facility. Before moving money or retitling the house, talk with a Vermont elder-law attorney, because a transfer inside the window can cost months of Medicaid long-term care coverage.

What Happens to the House

In Vermont Medicaid, the home itself is fully excluded when its equity value is under $752,000, the 2026 federal minimum home equity limit, and Vermont's rule ties that limit to annual indexing by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), so the number rises each January. Substantial home equity does not block Vermont Medicaid coverage when the owner's spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or permanently and totally disabled child of any age lawfully lives in the home.

What happens after your parent's death is a separate question. Federal law requires each state Medicaid program, including Vermont's, to seek recovery from the estate of a person who was 55 or older when they received nursing facility services, home and community-based services and related hospital and prescription drug services. Medicaid estate recovery may be made only after the death of a surviving spouse, and only when there is no surviving child who is under 21 or blind or permanently and totally disabled, and every state Medicaid agency must have procedures to waive recovery where it would work an undue hardship. How Vermont runs its claim is in our guide to Vermont Medicaid estate recovery.

Vermont's own estate tax is separate from Medicaid estate recovery. Under 32 V.S.A. section 7442a, a Vermont taxable estate under $5,000,000 pays no Vermont estate tax, and Vermont has no inheritance tax. More: the Vermont estate tax.

Staying Home or Moving to Residential Care

If your parent wants to stay home, Choices for Care also covers care in another person's home, such as a Vermont relative's house, not only in your parent's own. The home-based services and how Vermont's waiver works are in our guide to Vermont Medicaid HCBS waivers.

If home is no longer safe, Vermont licenses two residential settings through the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living under one rule effective April 1, 2025: Assisted Living Residences, which must offer a private bedroom, private bath, living space, kitchen capacity and a lockable door, and Residential Care Homes, licensed at Level III or Level IV. In both Vermont Assisted Living Residences and Residential Care Homes, Vermont Medicaid pays for the services rather than the room-and-board portion of a stay, through two routes.

Vermont Medicaid route Where it applies What it pays toward
Assistive Community Care Services (ACCS) Participating Level III residential care homes enrolled as Medicaid providers A bundle of health care services, not room and board
Enhanced Residential Care (ERC) under Choices for Care Approved Level III residential care homes and Assisted Living Residences A 24-hour package of services, not room and board

Ask about money before you sign anything. A Vermont residential care home is not required to accept SSI or ACCS payments. A Vermont residential care home's admission agreement must say whether it will, and a home that reserves that decision may transfer or discharge a resident whose finances change and who can no longer pay privately. Vermont pays an optional state supplement to SSI recipients, and the federal ASPE compendium of Vermont's residential care regulations says Vermont limits room and board charges for Medicaid-eligible residents to the combined SSI and state supplement payments minus a personal needs allowance the resident keeps. More: how to pay for assisted living in Vermont and Vermont nursing homes.

If a family member is the one doing the caregiving, see how to get paid as a family caregiver in Vermont and caregiver programs in Vermont.

If One Spouse Stays Home

If your father needs care and your mother is still at home, Vermont Medicaid lets her keep a share of the couple's savings. In Vermont Medicaid, when one spouse needs care the at-home spouse can keep up to $162,660 in additional resources in 2026. The details, including the at-home spouse's income allowance, are in our guide to Vermont Medicaid spousal impoverishment rules.

If Your Parent Served in the Military

If your parent or their spouse served, check VA benefits as well; the rules and current rates are in our guide to VA Aid and Attendance in Vermont.

Is your parent a veteran, or a veteran's surviving spouse? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com to see which benefits might apply.

Long-Term Care Insurance

If your parent bought a long-term care insurance policy years ago, locate the policy and check its benefit triggers, daily maximum and elimination period before filing a claim. Per-diem benefits from a tax-qualified long-term care insurance policy are excluded from federal income only up to the greater of an indexed amount, $430 a day for 2026, or the costs actually incurred for care. Tax-qualified long-term care insurance premiums count as a federal medical expense only up to age-banded limits, and through the itemized medical-expense deduction they reduce tax only for the part of medical expenses above 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.

On the Medicaid side, a long-term care insurance partnership can shelter assets, but a partnership is a state option rather than a national entitlement, existing only where the state has an approved Medicaid state plan amendment providing for the disregard. Ask Vermont Medicaid in writing whether a policy is a partnership policy before you buy one on that basis. More: long-term care insurance.

Paying for elder care in Vermont can mean combining several of these sources, so list the ones your parent already has before you call anyone. If your parent is on Medicare with a modest income, check Vermont Medicare Savings Programs as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the income limit for Vermont Medicaid long-term care in 2026?

Vermont's 2026 institutional income standard for Long-Term Care Medicaid is $2,982 a month, which is 300 percent of the $994 monthly SSI federal benefit rate effective January 1, 2026. A Vermonter whom the Social Security Administration grants Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is automatically eligible for Vermont's Medicaid for the Aged, Blind and Disabled, with no separate Medicaid income or resource test.

How much income can my parent keep on Vermont Medicaid?

In 2026, a Vermont Medicaid long-term care recipient in a nursing facility keeps a personal needs allowance of $79.93 a month, and one living at home or in an apartment keeps $1,483 a month for maintenance needs, which DVHA publishes as the community maintenance allowance in the home-and-community-based waiver program.

Does Medicare pay for a nursing home in Vermont?

Only for a short skilled stay. In 2026, Medicare Part A covers skilled nursing facility care in Vermont for up to 100 days per benefit period, charges $217 a day for days 21 through 100, and pays nothing after day 100. Medicare does not pay for a long-term Vermont nursing home stay when custodial care is the only care a person needs.

How do I get the Vermont Long-Term Care Medicaid application?

Print Vermont's Application for Long-Term Care Medicaid (form 202LTC) from DVHA, or ask for one by mail by calling 1-802-476-0100 or toll-free 1-833-840-0061. Once a Vermonter is found eligible, Vermont Medicaid reviews eligibility at least once a year.

Can my parent get Vermont's Property Tax Credit after moving into care?

Possibly. The Vermont Department of Taxes says a homestead leased to a tenant as of April 1 can still be claimed as a homestead if it is not leased for more than 182 days in the claim year.

Learn More

Care TypesCost of Senior Care in VermontWhat senior care costs in Vermont in 2026: assisted living about $103,137 a year, a private nursing-home room about $186,333. See every setting and how to pay. MedicaidVermont Medicaid Income and Asset LimitsVermont Medicaid uses spend-down, not a hard income cap. See the 2026 $2,000 asset limit, Choices for Care rules, spousal protections, and how to qualify. MedicaidVermont Medicaid and Nursing Home CareHow Vermont Medicaid nursing home coverage works in 2026: Choices for Care eligibility, the asset limit, what you pay, spousal protections, and estate recovery. Care TypesHow to Pay for Assisted Living in VermontAssisted living in Vermont runs about $103,167 a year. Vermont Medicaid pays for the care through ACCS or ERC, not room and board. See how to cover the rest. VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in VermontVA Aid and Attendance in Vermont for 2026: who qualifies, monthly rates up to $2,874, how to apply, and free help from the Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs. FinancialVermont Senior Property Tax ReliefVermont's Property Tax Credit on Form HS-122 cuts your bill at any age: income up to $115,400, caps of $5,600 education and $2,400 municipal property tax.

Find personalized help paying for senior care in Vermont at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.