Delaware Medicaid Income Limits 2026: Two Tests, Not One

Delaware Medicaid income limits come in two versions, and which one applies depends on your age and disability status, not your income. For long-term care, the 2026 cap is $2,485 a month against a $2,000 asset limit, and Delaware does not let you spend down past it. For everyone else, under 65 and not disabled, the test is modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), where the ceiling for adults is 138% of the federal poverty level, roughly $1,835 a month, with no asset test at all.1,2,3,4,5

In This Guide

• Delaware Medicaid in 2026: the numbers that matter
• Which Delaware Medicaid income limits apply to you?
• Turning 65 can end Medicaid coverage when nothing else changed
• How the Delaware Medicaid income limits work for long-term care
• The Miller Trust: the only route past the Delaware Medicaid income limits
• The asset limit
• The five-year look-back
• What does a nursing-home resident keep each month?
• Protecting the spouse who stays home
• After death: estate recovery
• How to apply in Delaware
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Which Delaware Medicaid income limits apply to you?

Delaware runs two different income tests.

• The MAGI test uses modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). It covers children, pregnant women, parents and caretaker relatives, and the ACA expansion adult group. It applies no asset test at all.5
• The SSI-related ABD test covers aged, blind, and disabled applicants, and it is the track long-term-care coverage runs on. The $2,485/month cap and the $2,000 asset limit that the rest of this guide explains belong to this test.1

Federal law bars the MAGI groups from any asset or resource test, and that is the central split between the two tracks. A working-age Delaware adult worried about "the $2,000 Medicaid asset limit" is worried about a test that does not apply to them. Being disabled or over 65 does not by itself take someone out of MAGI for every purpose, either: a person evaluated for a MAGI group, such as a parent or caretaker relative, is measured under MAGI with no asset test.5

Household size is counted differently too. The MAGI groups generally use the federal income-tax household: the taxpayer and the people they claim as tax dependents, plus a spouse they live with whether or not the couple files jointly. People who don't file taxes, and a few other situations such as a child claimed by a non-custodial parent, are counted under separate non-filer rules. The ABD groups use their own financial methods instead, so the same family can be counted differently depending on which pathway applies.9

Delaware's MAGI income limits by group

Delaware states each MAGI group's income standard as a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL). For 2026 the FPL is $15,960/year for one person and $21,640 for two, in the 48 contiguous states and DC.2,4

Two numbers appear for the expansion adult group because two things are being described. Delaware's regulation states the standard as 133% FPL. The mandatory 5-percentage-point-of-FPL income disregard is applied inside the MAGI methodology rather than baked into that published standard, and only when testing the highest-standard MAGI group a person could qualify under, not group by group. For a working-age adult whose highest-standard group is the expansion group, that makes the effective ceiling the commonly cited 138% FPL. Both describe the same rule; 138% is the one to measure your income against.2,3

Delaware operates no Basic Health Program, so there is no additional coverage tier between these standards and the Marketplace.2

Parents and caretaker relatives, and why 87% is so low

87% of the poverty line is the lowest standard on Delaware's grid, for a structural reason. Parents and caretaker relatives are a federally mandatory group, but unlike children (a 133% FPL floor) and the expansion adult group (138% FPL effective), their mandatory coverage is pegged to the state's old cash-welfare (AFDC) standard rather than to a percentage of the poverty line. Federal rules set the floor at the state's May 1, 1988 AFDC standard, converted to a MAGI equivalent, and cap how far above it a state may go. The state's own published standard, not the 1988 floor, is the number to check, and because it is anchored to a decades-old welfare program rather than to the current poverty guidelines, Delaware's 87% sits below the poverty line.10,2

This is the group an older Delawarean raising a grandchild would look to, because the expansion adult group is written for people under 65 and closes on the 65th birthday. Whether a grandparent qualifies as a caretaker relative is DMMA's call on the household's facts, so ask. The children are assessed separately at far higher standards, so a grandchild may qualify at 133% to 212% FPL where the grandparent does not.3,2

Children and CHIP, briefly

Children under 19 are a federally mandatory Medicaid group. The federal floor is 133% FPL, and a state may set its standard above that floor, up to a federal maximum. Delaware meets or exceeds that floor in every age band, and runs a separate CHIP program, the Delaware Healthy Children Program, covering children to age 19 at 212% FPL. A household that is over the limit for the adults can still have covered children.11,2

Turning 65 can end Medicaid coverage when nothing else changed

Delaware runs the ACA expansion adult group, whose effective income ceiling is 138% FPL, with no asset test. For one person in 2026 that ceiling works out to roughly $1,835/month, which is 138% of the $15,960 one-person poverty guideline.2,3,4,5

That group is written for individuals under 65 who are not pregnant and not entitled to or enrolled in Medicare. On the 65th birthday the pathway closes, and unless the person qualifies in another MAGI group, such as parents and caretaker relatives, they are assessed on the SSI-related ABD track instead. Two things change at once. The income yardstick becomes the SSI Federal Benefit Rate of $994/month for an individual rather than 138% FPL, and the ABD track carries a resource test of a kind the MAGI groups are barred from applying. The SSI limit on countable resources is $2,000 for an individual.3,6,5

So a 64-year-old covered at $1,600 a month with a few thousand dollars in savings can be over both tests at 65 without a dollar of income changing. Reaching Medicare before 65 through disability closes the same door, because the group excludes anyone entitled to or enrolled in Medicare regardless of age.3

The ABD track is not a single number, though. Delaware applies a separate, higher standard to long-term-care coverage specifically, the $2,485/month cap the rest of this guide explains, which is 250% of that same $994 benefit rate. Someone who turns 65 and does not need long-term care is measured against the SSI-related standards instead, so ask DMMA which ABD category applies before concluding you are over.1,6

Two Delaware specifics take the edge off the cliff. Delaware is a 1634 state, not a 209(b) state, so an SSI award ordinarily brings Medicaid with it, though Delaware itself decides any Medicaid denial.7 And being over the Medicaid limit is not the same as being over every limit. DMMA also runs the Medicare Savings Programs for people entitled to Medicare Part A. They aren't full Medicaid, but they help with Medicare costs at incomes up to 100% FPL (QMB, which covers premiums, deductibles and coinsurance), 120% FPL (SLMB) and 135% FPL (QI-1), the last two paying the Part B premium only. DMMA says assets aren't considered for QMB and lists no asset limit for SLMB or QI-1. Ask DMMA about them before concluding nothing is available.12

How the Delaware Medicaid income limits work for long-term care

For nursing-facility care and for the Diamond State Health Plan-Plus (DSHP Plus) home-and-community-based services (HCBS) program, Delaware sets the 2026 income limit at $2,485/month for a single applicant. That figure is 250% of the 2026 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Federal Benefit Rate of $994, the standard the Delaware Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA) uses for long-term-care financial eligibility. That is below $2,982 a month (300% of SSI), the federal Medicaid matching-funds limit.1,6,7

The $2,485 figure is a true cap, not a spend-down threshold. Delaware offers no medically needy spend-down for long-term care. If your gross monthly income is even a dollar over the $2,485 cap, you are over the line, and there is no amount of medical spending that fixes it.1,13

What fixes it is a trust.

The Miller Trust: the only route past the Delaware Medicaid income limits

If your income exceeds the Delaware Medicaid income limits, DMMA requires you to establish a Qualified Income Trust (QIT), the same instrument widely known as a Miller Trust.1

How it works in practice:

1. You open an irrevocable trust that holds only your income, never savings or other resources, with the State of Delaware set to receive what remains at your death.14,13
2. Each month, you deposit income into the trust. A trust built to Delaware's specification is what lets an applicant over the $2,485 cap qualify.1,14
3. You still pay toward your care: your income goes to the facility, minus the $75 Personal Needs Allowance and the other protected amounts explained below.7
4. Whatever remains in the trust when you die goes to the state, up to the amount Medicaid paid on your behalf.13

A QIT solves an income problem, not an asset problem, and it routes income rather than sheltering it: the money still goes toward your care. Because it must be drafted correctly and funded every month, set it up with an elder-law attorney before applying.

If your income varies month to month, remember Delaware tests gross monthly income against the cap, so some months can land over $2,485 and others not. The conservative approach is to fund the QIT every month the income could exceed the cap.1

The $2,000 asset limit

Separate from income, a single Delaware long-term-care applicant may hold no more than $2,000 in countable assets. For a couple, the SSI resource limit is $3,000.1,6

"Countable" is the word that carries the rule. Delaware excludes these from the count:1

• The primary home, if you intend to return to it or a spouse or dependent relative lives there (a separate equity cap limits long-term-care payment; more below)
• One automobile per household
• Designated burial funds of $1,500, and a prepaid burial contract that cannot be revoked1

So the $2,000 limit applies to things like bank accounts, a second car, stocks, and cash value in some life insurance, not the roof over your head or your car.1

The five-year look-back

Delaware reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.1,15 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 won't pay for long-term-care services, even though you otherwise qualify.

There are exceptions (transfers between spouses or to a disabled child, certain caregiver-child home transfers) and legitimate planning approaches, but have an elder-law attorney review anything inside the five-year window first. The look-back applies to every long-term-care applicant, not only nursing-home applicants.15 For the broader toolkit, see our guide to Medicaid planning strategies.

What does a nursing-home resident keep each month?

When Delaware Medicaid pays for nursing-facility care, the resident pays their monthly income toward the cost of care, minus a short list of protected amounts. The first is the Personal Needs Allowance (PNA), money reserved for small personal expenses like clothing, a haircut, or a phone. Delaware sets its PNA at $75/month for an individual ($150/month for a married couple), raised from $50 effective January 1, 2025, and well above the long-standing federal floor of $30.1,5 A married resident who receives SSI may be allowed $30 instead, so confirm with DMMA.1

The PNA is not the only income protected. Delaware also sets aside any amount allowed for a spouse at home, the cost of medically necessary equipment and services Medicaid does not cover, such as eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids, and private health-insurance premiums.7 Federal rules add an allowance for other family at home. Only what is left after those deductions is the monthly patient-pay owed to the facility.5 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 stays in the community, federal spousal-impoverishment rules keep the at-home spouse from being left destitute. Delaware applies the federal standards for 2026:8,1

The at-home spouse can keep the greater of half the couple's countable assets or $32,532, generally up to $162,660, and keeps all their own income, which the allowance raises to at least $2,705 a month, up to $4,066.50 (more only after a fair hearing on financial duress).8,1 Two routes can raise the resource allowance above $162,660: a court order for the at-home spouse's support that requires a larger allowance, or a fair hearing showing the allowance is too small to bring the at-home spouse's income up to the minimum level, after the applicant's own income has first been allocated to that spouse.1 The income cap and QIT requirement still apply to the applicant spouse.

Home equity is its own gate. If your home equity is above the cap, Delaware won't pay for long-term-care services unless a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child lives in the home. It does not end Medicaid itself: the home is still excluded for general eligibility, and you may still get Medicaid payment for other covered services. A DMMA notice sets the 2026 cap at $752,000, the federal minimum; the manual's printed figure is out of date.1

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Delaware 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. Recovery waits while there is a surviving spouse, and federal law bars it while there is a surviving child who is under 21 or blind or permanently and totally disabled.1,13 Delaware also bars recovery on a lien against the home while a son or daughter who lived there for at least two years before the recipient's admission and provided the care that kept the recipient at home, or a sibling who lived there for the year before the admission, still lives there, though the state can still recover from other assets in the estate, and it can waive recovery for undue hardship to certain relatives who lived in the home for at least two years before the admission.1 For how estate recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Delaware

Delaware Medicaid is administered by DMMA, within the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). The steps below are the long-term-care path. On the MAGI side, skip the Qualified Income Trust, the level-of-care screening, and asset verification, since the MAGI groups have no asset test. Delaware ASSIST is the combined portal for both tracks.1,5

Apply even if you look over a limit: exclusions and the QIT route can change the answer.

Where to get help

Learn More

Find personalized help working through Delaware Medicaid eligibility and the Miller Trust process for 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.