Arkansas Medicaid Income Limits 2026: Eligibility & Assets

The Arkansas Medicaid income limits for 2026 are really two different limits, and which one applies to you depends on what you are applying for. For long-term care, the cap is $2,982 a month and Arkansas treats it as a hard ceiling: go one dollar over and you are not "almost eligible," you are out, unless you set up a specific legal trust. For regular coverage, the test is a percentage of the federal poverty level instead, and no asset limit applies at all.1,2 Arkansas is an income-cap state with no spend-down for nursing-home or waiver coverage, so an over-income long-term-care applicant's only path in is a Qualified Income Trust, also called a Miller Trust.1

This guide covers both tests. It opens with which limit applies to you and Arkansas's regular income-only standards, then walks through the 2026 income and asset rules for long-term care for aged, blind, and disabled residents: the $2,982 income cap, how a Miller Trust gets you under it, the $2,000 asset limit, what a nursing-home resident keeps, what a spouse at home is protected from, and how to apply through Access Arkansas.1

Which Arkansas Medicaid income limit applies to you?

Arkansas runs two separate financial tests, and most pages about Arkansas Medicaid income limits describe only one of them.

The $2,982 figure this guide leads with is the aged, blind, and disabled (ABD) test, used for institutional and waiver long-term care. It counts income against a dollar cap and pairs that with an asset limit.1

The other test is MAGI, short for Modified Adjusted Gross Income. It applies to children, pregnant women, parents and caretaker relatives, and the ACA expansion adult group, which covers adults under 65 who are not enrolled in Medicare.3,4 MAGI counts income only, measured as a percent of the federal poverty level, and federal law bars Arkansas from applying any asset or resource test to these groups.3 That is the sharpest practical difference between the two tracks: on the ABD side a single applicant is held to $2,000 in countable assets, and on the MAGI side savings are not counted at all.1,3

Which pathway a person is assessed under is usually decided by age and disability status, not by choice. For readers of an eldercare guide, that distinction has a hard edge, and it arrives on a birthday. See "The 65th birthday" below.

Arkansas MAGI income limits in 2026, by group

Arkansas publishes its MAGI standards as a percent of FPL on the Arkansas DHS Health Care Eligibility Quick Reference chart, using its own program names. Each group also gets an additional 5 percentage points of FPL disregarded from income when the disregard is needed to make someone eligible, so every group has a base standard and a slightly higher effective cutoff.2

A note on the two columns, because families comparing sources get tripped up here. The national Medicaid.gov eligibility table lists Arkansas at 133% for the adult group, 142% for ARKids A, 209% for pregnant women, and 211% for ARKids B. Those are the base standards and they match the state chart exactly. Arkansas layers its 5-point disregard on top, which is why the state's own "with disregard" column reads 138%, 147%, 214%, and 216%. The two sets of numbers do not conflict; they are the same standards measured before and after the disregard.2

Household size drives which dollar figure applies, and on the MAGI side household size is built from federal income-tax filing relationships rather than from who lives under the roof.5 The ABD track uses different household rules, so the same family can be counted two ways depending on the pathway.5

Children's coverage is federally mandatory down to a floor of 133% FPL, so Arkansas's 142% ARKids A standard sits above the federal minimum, and ARKids B extends separate CHIP coverage above that.6,2

Parents and caretaker relatives: the pathway with the punishing limit

Of the MAGI groups, the one that most often matters to an eldercare reader is parents and caretaker relatives, and it carries by far the lowest standard on the chart: a dollar-based figure of roughly $124 a month for a household of one, rising to about $334 for a household of four.2

There is a reason it is that low, and it is not an Arkansas quirk. Parents and caretaker relatives are a federally mandatory group, but unlike children (mandatory to 133% FPL) and the ACA adult group (effectively 138% FPL), they are covered only at the state's old cash-welfare standard: the state's AFDC income standard, tied to the criteria in effect before the 1996 welfare-reform law, converted to a MAGI equivalent. That standard was never re-indexed to inflation, which is why it now sits far below the poverty line while the other groups' limits move with FPL each year.7

This is the group a grandparent raising a grandchild would look to if they are under 65 and their income is above the ARHOME limit, since it is the mandatory pathway built around caring for a related child rather than around age or disability. Whether a particular grandparent meets Arkansas's definition of a caretaker relative is a determination for the state, not something to assume from the chart: confirm it with Arkansas DHS before counting on it.7

The 65th birthday: when the 138% pathway closes

Arkansas has adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion, which it runs as ARHOME.8,2 That matters for a transition most income-limit pages never mention.

The expansion adult group is written in federal law for individuals under 65 years of age, not pregnant, and not entitled to or enrolled in Medicare, at an effective ceiling of 138% FPL, and because it is a MAGI group it applies no asset test.4,3 For one person in 2026 that ceiling works out to about $1,835 a month, which is 138% of the $15,960-a-year federal poverty guideline for one person in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. (Alaska and Hawaii run on separate, higher guidelines.)9,4

On the 65th birthday that pathway closes, and the same person is generally assessed on the SSI-related ABD track instead, the track the statute expressly excepts from the no-asset-test rule.3 Two things change at once. The income yardstick becomes the SSI Federal Benefit Rate of $994 a month for an individual rather than 138% FPL, and a resource test appears where none applied before, defaulting to the SSI standard of $2,000 for an individual.10,3

The practical result is worth stating plainly. A 64-year-old covered through ARHOME at about $1,600 a month, with modest savings in the bank, can be over both tests at 65 without a dollar of their income changing: the income standard drops beneath them and an asset test that never applied to them appears.10,3 The same exclusion has a second trigger that has nothing to do with age, because the adult group also excludes anyone entitled to or enrolled in Medicare, so a person under 65 who reaches Medicare through disability leaves the group the same way.4

Everything that follows in this guide is that ABD track.

Arkansas Medicaid income limits in 2026: how the $2,982 cap works

A common assumption is that Arkansas Medicaid works like a spend-down state, where being over the income line is something you can fix by incurring medical bills. For long-term care, it does not.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Medical Services, which runs Arkansas Medicaid, sets the 2026 income limit for nursing-facility and home- and community-based services (HCBS) waiver coverage at $2,982 a month in gross income. That figure is 300% of the 2026 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Federal Benefit Rate of $994, the federal payment standard set by the Social Security Administration (SSA).1,10

Here is what makes Arkansas different from a state like Illinois or California. In a medically needy spend-down state, being over the income line is not fatal: you spend the excess on medical bills each month and qualify for the rest of the month. Arkansas does not offer that pathway for long-term care. It is an income-cap state, meaning the $2,982 figure is a true cliff. An applicant with $2,983 in monthly income is, on paper, disqualified, even though they plainly cannot afford a nursing home that runs several times that amount.1

(Arkansas does run a medically needy program, but only for regular, non-long-term-care Medicaid. It does not rescue an over-income nursing-home or waiver applicant.)1

The Miller Trust: the only way in when you're over the cap

For the many seniors whose Social Security and a pension push them past $2,982, Arkansas offers one route, and it is a legal one rather than a financial one: the Qualified Income Trust, commonly called a Miller Trust.1

A Miller Trust is a special irrevocable trust. Each month, the applicant's income above the cap is deposited into the trust. Money held in the trust does not count toward the $2,982 limit, so the applicant becomes income-eligible. The trust's funds do not vanish: they are spent under strict rules, typically on the resident's Personal Needs Allowance, a spouse's maintenance allowance, health-insurance premiums, and then the resident's share of nursing-facility costs. Whatever remains in the trust at the resident's death generally goes to the state as repayment, up to what Medicaid paid.1

Two things families consistently underestimate. First, the trust must be funded every single month the excess income is received; a missed month can break eligibility for that month. Second, it must be drafted correctly to meet federal and Arkansas requirements, which is squarely elder-law-attorney territory. A trust that does not comply does not protect anyone.

The mechanics are the same regardless of how far over the cap you are. The portion of monthly income above $2,982 goes into the trust, which removes it from the countable total so eligibility is met. The trust then pays out under Arkansas rules in a set order: the resident's Personal Needs Allowance first, then any community-spouse allowance and health-insurance premiums, then the resident's contribution toward the cost of care.1

The asset limit: $2,000, and what "countable" means

Income is only half the test. To qualify for long-term-care Medicaid in Arkansas, a single applicant may hold no more than $2,000 in countable assets; when both spouses apply together, the limit is $3,000.1 Arkansas kept the long-standing federal figure rather than raising it the way a handful of states have.

The word "countable" does most of the work here. Arkansas, like every state, exempts a long list of assets from the count: the home (subject to an equity cap, below), one vehicle, household goods and personal effects, and prepaid burial arrangements. So the $2,000 limit applies to bank accounts, investments, and a second vehicle, not the house someone lives in.1

The five-year look-back

Arkansas reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.1,11 Giving away money or property for less than fair market value inside that window, signing a house over to a child for a dollar, gifting a grandchild a down payment, can trigger a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay for long-term-care services, even though you are otherwise eligible.

There are legitimate exceptions (transfers between spouses, transfers to a disabled child, certain caregiver-child home transfers) and legitimate planning approaches, but anything done inside the five-year window deserves an elder-law attorney's review first. For the broader toolkit, see our guide to Medicaid planning strategies.

What a nursing-home resident keeps: a $40 allowance

When Arkansas Medicaid pays for nursing-facility care, the resident contributes nearly all of their monthly income toward the cost of care. What they keep is the Personal Needs Allowance (PNA), money reserved for the resident's own small expenses such as clothing, a haircut, or a phone. Arkansas sets its PNA at $40/month for most facility residents, or $30/month for a resident whose only income is SSI, among the lowest figures in the country.1,12

That $40 is what makes the income math feel counterintuitive. A resident keeps only that small allowance for personal use; the rest of their monthly income, after any community-spouse allowance and health-insurance premiums, goes to the facility as the resident's share of cost, with Medicaid covering the gap.1 For the national picture on how the PNA is set and calculated, see our explainer on the Medicaid personal needs allowance.

Protecting the spouse who stays home

When one spouse needs long-term care and the other remains in the community, federal spousal-impoverishment rules keep the at-home spouse from being left destitute. Arkansas applies the federal maximums for 2026:1

So a married couple is in a very different position from a single applicant. The community spouse can hold up to $162,660 in assets, far above the $2,000 limit on the applicant, and keep over $4,000 a month in income while the other spouse receives Medicaid-funded care.1

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Arkansas runs a Medicaid estate-recovery program. After a recipient who was 55 or older and received long-term-care services dies, the state may seek repayment from the estate, unless the recipient is survived by a spouse or a minor, blind, or disabled child. Federal exceptions apply, and an undue-hardship waiver exists.1,13 Note that funds remaining in a Miller Trust at death are a common recovery target. For how estate recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Arkansas

Arkansas Medicaid is administered by the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) through its Division of Medical Services. You have three ways to apply, and long-term-care applicants also go through a level-of-care screening to confirm they need nursing-facility-level services.

If your income is over the $2,982 cap, do not wait to apply while you sort out a trust, talk to an elder-law attorney about a Qualified Income Trust early, because the trust must be in place and funded for the months you want coverage.1

Learn More

Find personalized help working through the Arkansas Medicaid income cap and whether a Miller Trust fits your family 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.