Wisconsin Medicaid Income Limits 2026: BadgerCare & Nursing Home

Wisconsin Medicaid income limits come in two versions, and which one applies depends on your age and whether you need long-term care. If you are under 65 and not blind or disabled, BadgerCare Plus measures you on income alone: 100% of the federal poverty level, or $1,330.00 a month for a household of one, with no asset test.1,2 If you are elderly, blind, or disabled, or you need nursing-home or waiver care, a different set of rules governs: a $2,000 asset limit, a spend-down instead of a hard income cap, and one of the most generous spousal-protection floors in the country, guaranteeing the spouse who stays home at least $50,000 in assets and $3,525 a month in income.3,4

This guide gives both sets of 2026 numbers. It covers the BadgerCare Plus (MAGI) limits group by group, why Wisconsin is the one non-expansion state without a coverage gap, what the parents and caretaker-relatives pathway means for a grandparent raising a grandchild, and what changes at 65. It then covers the long-term-care rules in detail: the $2,000 asset limit, how the medically needy spend-down works without a Miller Trust, what a nursing-home resident keeps, and the two community-spouse protections that make Wisconsin stand out.3,1

The other Wisconsin Medicaid income limits: BadgerCare Plus and the MAGI test

Wisconsin applies two different income tests, and the numbers above are only one of them. The $2,982/month standard, the $2,000 asset limit, and the spend-down all belong to the elderly, blind, and disabled (EBD) and long-term-care pathway. Everyone else is measured with Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI): children, pregnant people, parents and caretaker relatives, and non-disabled adults. Wisconsin's MAGI-based Medicaid and CHIP program is BadgerCare Plus, run by the Department of Health Services, and it is the answer most people searching for a Wisconsin Medicaid income limit are actually looking for.1,2

Wisconsin's position on the adult side is unusual, and national roundups routinely get it wrong. Wisconsin has not adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion; it is one of 10 states that have not.5 But it is the single exception among them with no coverage gap: under a Section 1115 demonstration waiver, BadgerCare Plus covers childless, non-disabled adults up to 100% of the federal poverty level, or $1,330.00/month for a household of one, for the coverage year running February 1, 2026 through January 31, 2027.1 In the other nine non-expansion states, adults below the poverty line can fall into a gap where they earn too much for Medicaid and too little for Marketplace subsidies. Wisconsin residents do not.5 Because the state did not expand, it also does not run the ACA "new adult group" and its effective 138%-of-FPL ceiling. In Wisconsin the adult number is 100% FPL, not 138%.6,1

Two sets of Wisconsin numbers circulate, and both are correct. DHS publishes gross limits; the federal medicaid.gov eligibility table lists the same standards net, five percentage points lower, because federal MAGI rules apply a mandatory income disregard equal to 5 percentage points of the FPL. So 100% FPL gross for adults and parents appears as 95% FPL on the federal table, and 306% FPL gross for pregnant people and children under 1 appears as 301%. The DHS figures above already account for the disregard.1

Parents and caretaker relatives: the pathway a grandparent looks to

If you are raising a grandchild, this is the group to ask about. Parents and other caretaker relatives are a federally mandatory Medicaid group, but the federal floor beneath it is low: the minimum a state must cover is its own cash-welfare (AFDC) income standard, frozen at the pre-1996 level and converted to a MAGI equivalent, which is typically far below the poverty line. That floor is why a working parent in a non-expansion state can be over the Medicaid limit at a very low income.7

Wisconsin does not stop at the floor. BadgerCare Plus covers parents and caretaker relatives at 100% FPL gross, the same $1,330.00/month for a household of one that applies to childless adults, so the federal minimum is not what binds here.1 Whether a particular grandparent meets the caretaker-relative definition is a determination your county or tribal Income Maintenance agency makes. The ADRC listed below can help you work out which group to apply under before you file.

And the contrast that catches families off guard: the MAGI groups have no asset test. Federal law bars a state from applying any assets or resources test to MAGI-based eligibility, and the statute expressly excepts the ABD and long-term-care pathways from that rule, which is why those keep a resource test and BadgerCare Plus does not. The $2,000 countable-asset limit on this page is an EBD and long-term-care rule. A BadgerCare Plus applicant's savings do not count against them; only income does.2

For children, Wisconsin sets the ceiling high. BadgerCare Plus covers children up to 306% FPL gross, with families above the 201% FPL premium threshold paying a monthly premium.1 On the federal eligibility table, the state's children's coverage resolves into net age-tiered Medicaid limits of 301% FPL for children under 1, 186% FPL for ages 1 through 5, and 151% FPL for ages 6 through 18, with a separate CHIP program covering children from age 1 up to 19 at 301% FPL.1 Federal law sets the mandatory floor for children's coverage at the higher of 133% FPL or a state's pre-existing grandfathered level, so Wisconsin's levels sit well above the national minimum.8

What changes when a Wisconsin adult turns 65

At 65 a Wisconsin resident is generally assessed under the EBD rules rather than BadgerCare Plus's MAGI rules, because the aged, blind, and disabled track is precisely the one federal law excepts from the MAGI no-asset-test rule.2 In the 41 states that adopted the expansion (a count that includes the District of Columbia), that birthday can be a double hit: the new adult group is written for people under 65, so its 138%-of-FPL ceiling closes, and a resource test appears where none existed.6,5 In Wisconsin only the second half of that happens.

The income figure barely moves. BadgerCare Plus covers adults to $1,330.00/month, and Wisconsin's EBD medically needy income limit is $1,330.00/month for an individual and $1,803.33/month for a couple, effective February 1, 2026. Those are the same numbers, and above the limit you spend down rather than being cut off.1,3 What changes is the asset test. BadgerCare Plus cannot apply one; the EBD track applies the $2,000 countable-asset limit.2,3 A 64-year-old on BadgerCare Plus with $10,000 in savings can be over the EBD asset limit at 65 without a dollar of their income or savings changing. The rules that follow govern that track.

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

For long-term-care Medicaid in Wisconsin, a single applicant is limited to $2,000 in countable assets, and a married couple with both spouses applying is limited to $3,000.3 That's the standard SSI-related figure, unchanged for decades, and it's where Wisconsin differs sharply from states like Illinois that have raised their own limits.

"Countable" is the word doing the work. Wisconsin, like every state, exempts a long list of assets from the count: your home, one vehicle, household goods and personal effects, and prepaid burial arrangements. So the $2,000 applies to things like bank accounts, a second car, and investments, not the roof over your head. The home exemption is subject to a federal home-equity limit, set at a minimum of $752,000 for 2026; equity above the limit your state applies is countable for long-term-care eligibility.9

The asset limit is also where the married-couple story gets more generous, but only when just one spouse needs care. That's the spousal-impoverishment protection, covered below, and it's a separate and far larger allowance than the $3,000 two-applicant figure.3

How Wisconsin Medicaid income limits work: the spend-down

Wisconsin sets the income standard for nursing-home and home- and community-based waiver coverage at $2,982/month for 2026, which is 300% of the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit rate of $994/month for an individual.3 But unlike a strict income-cap state, being over that figure does not disqualify you.

Wisconsin is a medically needy state. If your income is above the standard, you can still qualify through the EBD medically needy spend-down: the excess income becomes your monthly spend-down amount, and once you've incurred that much in medical or care costs in a given month, Medicaid pays for the rest of that month. Wisconsin's EBD medically needy income limit used for this pathway is $1,330.00/month for an individual and $1,803.33/month for a couple, effective February 1, 2026.3

This is why Wisconsin does not require a Qualified Income Trust, also called a Miller Trust. In strict income-cap states, an applicant even one dollar over the limit is shut out unless they route the excess through a special trust. Wisconsin has no such cliff. If your income is high, you spend down; you are never simply "too rich" for long-term-care Medicaid.

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

When Wisconsin Medicaid pays for nursing-facility care, the resident contributes almost 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 like clothing or a haircut. Wisconsin sets its PNA at $55/month, effective July 1, 2024, above the federal floor of $30/month for an institutionalized individual.3,10

The same $2,000 asset limit applies to nursing-home applicants.3 And because Wisconsin uses spend-down rather than an income cap, even a resident with substantial monthly income can qualify; they simply contribute more of it toward care. For the national picture on the PNA and how it's calculated, see our explainer on the Medicaid personal needs allowance.

Protecting the spouse who stays home

This is where Wisconsin stands out. 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. Most states apply the bare federal minimums. Wisconsin sets two of its floors higher.3,4

The community spouse may keep half the couple's countable assets, but Wisconsin guarantees a minimum of $50,000 even when half the assets would come to less, well above the federal floor of $32,532. And the community spouse's monthly income allowance has a Wisconsin floor of $3,525, above the federal floor of $2,705.00, up to the federal maximum of $4,066.50. Both protections matter most for couples with modest savings. The table below also restates the federal home-equity limit of $752,000 covered above.3,4,9

So a married couple in Wisconsin is in a very different position from a single applicant, and a better one than in most states. The at-home spouse can hold at least $50,000 in assets and keep at least $3,525 a month in income while the other spouse receives Medicaid-funded care.3,4

The five-year look-back

Wisconsin reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.3,11 Giving away money or property for less than fair market value during that window, like gifting a grandchild a down payment or signing a house over to a child for a dollar, can trigger a penalty period during which Medicaid won't pay for long-term-care services, even though you're 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. 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.

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Wisconsin 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, unless the recipient is survived by a spouse or a minor, blind, or disabled child. Federal exceptions apply, and an undue-hardship waiver exists.3,12 For how estate recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Medicaid is run by Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (DHS), through its Division of Medicaid Services. You have a few ways to apply, whether you want to file the application yourself or sit down with someone who can walk you through the long-term-care options first.

Both tracks start in the same places. A BadgerCare Plus application goes through ACCESS or your local Income Maintenance agency, and the ADRC is the place to sort out which group you fall under before you file.1 Long-term-care applicants also go through a functional screening to confirm they need nursing-facility-level services. Apply even if you think you're over the limit. Between spend-down and the spousal protections, many people who assume they're disqualified are not.

Learn More

Find personalized help working through Wisconsin Medicaid eligibility 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.