Indiana Medicaid Income Limits 2026: Eligibility & Assets

For nursing-home and waiver care, Indiana Medicaid sets a hard income cap of $2,982/month in 2026, and going over it disqualifies you unless you set up a Qualified Income Trust (Miller Trust).1 That income-cap rule is the opposite of the spend-down states next door, and it governs the aged, blind, and disabled pathway most families researching long-term care are in.

This guide covers the 2026 income and asset rules on that aged, blind, and disabled (ABD) long-term-care pathway: the asset limit, how the income cap and the Miller Trust work, what a nursing-home resident keeps, what an at-home spouse is protected from, and how to apply. It also flags the separate Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) pathway, the route for working-age adults who are not seeking long-term care.1

Which Indiana Medicaid 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

• 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). For a single person in 2026, that ceiling is a monthly income of $1,835.50; HIP applies no asset test. Children and pregnant women qualify through their own Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) categories at higher percent-of-poverty thresholds.2

The practical takeaway: 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

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

Indiana holds to the long-standing federal floor. A single aged, blind, or disabled applicant may keep $2,000 in countable assets in 2026; a married couple with both spouses applying may keep $3,000.1

"Countable" carries the weight. Indiana, like every state, exempts a list of assets from the count: your home (subject to an equity cap of $752,000), one vehicle, household goods and personal effects, and a prepaid irrevocable burial arrangement. So the $2,000 applies to things like bank balances, a second car, and investment accounts, not the house you live in or the car in the driveway.1

Two points families get wrong. The couple limit of $3,000 applies only when both spouses are applying for Medicaid.1 When just one spouse needs care, the far larger spousal-impoverishment rules below take over, and the at-home spouse keeps a great deal more. And the home is only exempt while it stays a protected residence; equity above the cap, or a home no longer occupied by the recipient or a protected relative, can become countable.

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

Here is where Indiana departs sharply from its spend-down neighbors. 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

In a medically needy state, income over the standard is no barrier: the applicant incurs medical bills equal to the excess and the program pays the rest. Indiana offers no such spend-down for long-term care. Being even a few dollars over $2,982 disqualifies you, with one exception the state writes directly into its rules: the Qualified Income Trust, almost always called a Miller Trust.1

A Miller Trust is a special bank-held trust an over-income applicant sets up. Each month, the income that pushes you above the cap gets deposited into the trust, where it no longer counts toward the $2,982 test. The trustee then uses that money for allowed purposes, chiefly the applicant's own share of care costs and a small personal allowance, and Indiana Medicaid becomes the payer for the rest. The trust must be irrevocable, name the state of Indiana as the remainder beneficiary up to the amount the program paid, and hold only income (not assets). It is the gate, not a loophole: without it, an over-income applicant cannot qualify.1

For aged, blind, or disabled applicants who are not seeking long-term care, the "regular" ABD income standard is lower, $1,330/month for one person and $1,803.33 for a couple in 2026.1 And note the calendar: Indiana updates these ABD income standards on March 1 each year, not January 1, so a figure that changed federally in January may not change in Indiana until spring.

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 the resident's own small expenses like clothing, a haircut, or a phone bill.1,4 Beyond the PNA, deductions are also allowed for a community spouse and for certain ongoing health-insurance premiums.

Long-term services and supports for Indiana members aged 60 and older now run through Indiana PathWays for Aging, the managed-care program the state launched on July 1, 2024. Once eligibility is established, a PathWays health plan coordinates the member's nursing-facility or home- and community-based care. (For the national picture on how the personal needs allowance is set and used, see our explainer on the Medicaid personal needs allowance.)

The five-year look-back

Indiana reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.1,5 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. 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 2026:1,3

So a married couple stands in a very different position from a single applicant. The community spouse can hold up to $162,660 in countable assets, well beyond the $2,000 applicant limit, and keep enough monthly income to live on while the other spouse receives Medicaid-funded care.3,1

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Indiana 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.1,6 Federal law builds in protections: recovery is deferred while a surviving spouse is alive or a minor, blind, or disabled child survives, and an undue-hardship waiver exists for cases that would, for example, deprive an heir of a primary income-producing asset. For how estate recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Indiana

Indiana Medicaid is administered by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), through its Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning, and financial eligibility is determined by the Division of Family Resources (DFR). You have three ways to apply:

Long-term-care applicants also go through a level-of-care screening to confirm they need nursing-facility-level services, and members 60 and older are enrolled in a PathWays for Aging plan once eligible. If your income runs over the $2,982 cap, set up the Miller Trust early; an elder-law attorney can have it in place before you apply so the trust is funded for the first month of coverage.1 Apply even if you think you're over the limit, because in Indiana "over the limit" usually means you need a trust, not that you're shut out.

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.