Indiana Medicaid Income Limits 2026: $2,982 Cap & Miller Trust

Indiana Medicaid's income limit for nursing-home and waiver care is a hard cap of $2,982/month in 2026. Go over it and you are not eligible unless you have a valid Qualified Income Trust, also called a Miller Trust.1 That cap applies on the aged, blind, and disabled pathway to nursing-facility and home- and community-based waiver coverage.1 Working-age adults who are not seeking long-term care face a different test, the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) limit of about 138% of the federal poverty level.2

Indiana Medicaid eligibility: which test applies to you?

Indiana runs two different income tests, and which one you face depends on why you need coverage. Getting this right is the first step, because the headline $2,982 figure below applies to only one of them.1 For how other states draw the same line, see our guide to Medicaid income limits by state.

• Aged, blind, and disabled (ABD) / long-term care. If you are 65 or older, blind, or disabled, or you need nursing-facility or home- and community-based waiver care, you are on the ABD pathway. It uses Supplemental Security Income (SSI) methodology, carries a hard asset limit, and (for institutional and waiver care) applies the $2,982/month income cap. Everything else in this guide describes this pathway.1
• Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) for working-age adults. Non-disabled adults ages 19 to 64 who are not seeking long-term care qualify through the Healthy Indiana Plan, Indiana's Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion. HIP covers residents with family income up to approximately 138% of the federal poverty level (technically 133% plus a 5% disregard), and applies no asset test. Children and pregnant women qualify through their own Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) categories at higher limits, typically through Hoosier Healthwise: $3,391.50 a month for a child in a family of one, and $3,841.20 a month for a pregnant woman in a family of two (the unborn child counts toward family size).2,6 Income isn't the only test, though. Indiana says current private insurance may affect eligibility, and a new federal community-engagement requirement for expansion adults (42 CFR 435.119(d)) applies from its implementation date, so meeting the HIP income limit won't by itself settle an application.2

A working-age Hoosier comparing income against the $2,982 cap is reading the wrong number. Their test is the HIP/MAGI threshold above. A senior planning for nursing-home care reads the ABD rules that follow. To enroll in HIP, apply through the same state portal described in the how to apply section below.2

Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) income limit for 2026

For a single person in 2026, the highest monthly income that qualifies for HIP Plus is $1,835.50, which is 138% of the federal poverty level.2 HIP Plus members pay a monthly POWER account contribution of $1 to $20, set by how their income compares to the poverty level.2 HIP Basic, the fallback for members with income at or below 100% of the poverty level ($1,330.00/month for one person) who don't make those contributions, covers fewer services and charges a copayment for each visit or prescription.2

These are FSSA's published HIP limits, based on the 2026 federal poverty level. For a household of three, FSSA's chart and Indiana Medicaid's eligibility guide differ by three cents, so treat that limit as about $3,142.6

The asset limit: $2,000, and what doesn't count

Indiana's limit matches the federal SSI resource limit.7 A single aged, blind, or disabled applicant may keep $2,000 in countable assets in 2026; a married couple may keep $3,000.1

Indiana exempts these assets from the count:1

• Your home, if you live there, a spouse, a child under 18, or a blind or disabled child lives there, or you're expected to return.
• One vehicle, at any value if it's used for work or medical treatment, adapted for a disability, or for the at-home spouse; otherwise up to $5,000 of its market value.1
• Household furnishings and personal effects (not collections).
• An irrevocable burial or funeral trust tied to specific services.

When just one spouse needs care, the spousal-impoverishment rules below apply instead: the spouse in the nursing home is held to the $2,000 limit, and the at-home spouse can keep half the couple's countable assets, up to $162,660 (at least $32,532).5,1 And the home is only exempt while it stays a protected residence; a home no longer occupied by the recipient or a protected relative can become countable. Home equity is a separate test from the asset count: for nursing-home or other long-term care, equity above $752,000 makes the applicant ineligible until it is brought down, and that bar does not apply while a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child lives in the home. Indiana Partnership long-term-care policyholders are exempt from it, and a hardship waiver process exists.1

The Indiana Medicaid income limit: the cap and the Miller Trust

For nursing-facility and home- and community-based waiver coverage, Indiana sets a hard income ceiling of $2,982/month in 2026, equal to 300% of the SSI Federal Benefit Rate of $994.1,7

Being even a few dollars over $2,982 makes an applicant ineligible unless they have a valid Qualified Income Trust, almost always called a Miller Trust.1 Federal law allows this trust only in states that offer no medically needy route for nursing-facility care, so in Indiana the trust is the path for an over-income applicant.4,3

A Miller Trust is an income-only trust an over-income applicant sets up, and it works only in income-cap states like Indiana. Federal law sets its terms: it may hold only the applicant's pension, Social Security, and other income (not savings or other assets), and the state must receive whatever remains in it at the applicant's death, up to the total Medicaid paid on their behalf.4 The trust doesn't shield that income from the cost of care. A nursing-home resident still contributes all income except the $52 personal needs allowance and allowed deductions toward care, and Indiana Medicaid pays the rest.1

For aged, blind, or disabled applicants who are not seeking long-term care, the "regular" ABD income standard is lower, $1,330/month at family size 1 and $1,803.33/month at family size 2 in 2026.1 Indiana states these standards took effect March 1, 2026.1

Setting up a Miller Trust in Indiana

Indiana's Medicaid rule sets out what the trust has to do. A nursing-home resident or waiver applicant whose income is over the special income level must create the trust and request approval for Medicaid. The trust must be funded at least each month with the amount of monthly income above that level, and its money must be kept in a separate account that is not mixed with any other account.3 The rule lists the allowable payments out of the trust:3

• A monthly personal needs allowance, when the person deposits all of their income into the trust.
• An amount for a spouse, up to the minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance.
• The person's incurred medical expenses.
• The cost of their care, such as the patient liability.

Worked example #1. The figures below are hypothetical and shown only to illustrate how the calculation works. They are not a real case and not a prediction of your own result. Suppose a widowed parent entering a nursing home has $3,200 a month in Social Security and pension income. That is $218 over the $2,982 cap, so without a trust they are not eligible. With a valid Miller Trust, at least $218 goes into the trust every month. Once they qualify, they keep the $52 personal needs allowance and amounts for health-insurance premiums, and the rest of their income goes toward the nursing home as their monthly liability.3,1

Long-term care: what a nursing-home resident keeps

When Indiana Medicaid pays for nursing-facility care, the resident contributes nearly all of their monthly income toward the cost of that care. What they keep is the Personal Needs Allowance (PNA): $52/month in Indiana, money set aside for clothing and other personal needs.1,8 Beyond the PNA, deductions are also allowed for a community spouse and for certain ongoing health-insurance premiums.1,8 The $52 does not apply to a waiver member receiving care at home: Indiana sets that person's personal needs allowance equal to the special income level, $2,982 a month in 2026.1 (For the national picture on how the personal needs allowance is set and used, see our explainer on the Medicaid personal needs allowance.)

Giving assets away: the five-year look-back

Indiana reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.1,9 Giving away money or property for less than fair market value inside that window, signing a house over to a child for a dollar or 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 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.9 If long-term care is on the horizon for someone in your family, talk to a professional before moving assets. For the broader toolkit, see our guide to Medicaid planning strategies.

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 with nothing. Indiana applies the federal framework for 2026:1,5

The community spouse can generally hold up to $162,660 in countable assets, well beyond the $2,000 applicant limit, and keep at least $2,705.00 a month in income (the minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance from July 1, 2026) while the other spouse receives Medicaid-funded care.5,1 The $162,660 is a standard that can be exceeded: federal law lets a court order protect more, and lets a fair hearing protect more when extra assets are needed to bring the at-home spouse's income up to the minimum allowance (after first counting the applicant's income that could go to the spouse). Indiana's own page describes an appeal route for income only, so a spouse seeking a higher resource allowance should request a hearing from DFR in writing and confirm the state's process.1,5

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Indiana runs a Medicaid estate-recovery program, and its reach is broader than long-term care: the state seeks to recover the total amount Medicaid paid on a recipient's behalf after they turned 55, and in certain other limited circumstances.1,4 The estate includes non-probate assets too, such as a house passed through a joint tenancy with right of survivorship created after June 30, 2002.1

Federal law builds in protections: recovery may be made only after a surviving spouse has died, and only when no surviving child is under 21 and none is blind or permanently and totally disabled.4 Indiana's FSSA says the same in its own terms, listing all of a recipient's assets as unrecoverable while a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child survives.1

Every state must also have a process to waive recovery for undue hardship. In Indiana, an immediate family member's hardship application must be submitted within 90 days of the date of the claim, and you can request one at 877-267-0013.1 For how estate recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Indiana

Medicaid applications are processed by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Division of Family Resources (DFR), which is responsible for establishing Medicaid eligibility. You can apply online, in person, by phone, or by mail, and a complete application can take up to 90 days to be decided.1

For home- and community-based waiver care, the application starts somewhere else: go to one of Indiana's 16 Area Agencies on Aging, and apply for Medicaid as well.10 Since July 1, 2024, waiver services for people 60 and older come through the Indiana PathWays for Aging Waiver, administered by FSSA's Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning; people 59 and under use the Health and Wellness Waiver.10 Both waivers have had a waiting list since FSSA reached its federally approved capacity in April 2024. Invitations go out each month, first to people moving from a nursing facility, from CHOICE, or out of a hospital, then to everyone else by the date of their original level-of-care assessment, and no one holds a fixed place in line.11 Waiver applicants must also meet a nursing facility level of care, which Indiana evaluates when you apply for Medicaid and at least once a year after that; being under the income cap is not by itself a route into a waiver.10,7 If your income runs over the $2,982 cap, set up the Miller Trust early, with an elder-law attorney's help (see setting up a Miller Trust above).3

Learn More

Find personalized help working through Indiana Medicaid eligibility and whether you need a Miller Trust 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.