Wyoming Medicaid Income Limits 2026: Eligibility & Assets

Wyoming Medicaid income limits sit at a hard $2,982/month for long-term care in 2026, and going one dollar over does not disqualify you. It means you must set up a Miller Trust first, because Wyoming is an income-cap state.1

This guide walks through the 2026 income and asset rules for Wyoming Medicaid for seniors and people with disabilities who need nursing-facility or home-based long-term care. It covers the income cap and the Qualified Income Trust that goes with it, the $2,000 asset limit, what a nursing-home resident keeps, the protections for a spouse who stays home, and how to apply through the state's eligibility system.

In This Guide

• Which Medicaid income test applies to a senior
• The regular income limit for a working-age adult
• How Wyoming Medicaid income limits work: the income cap
• When the income cap puts you over: the Miller Trust
• The asset limit
• What a nursing-home resident keeps
• Protecting the spouse who stays home
• After death: estate recovery
• How to apply in Wyoming
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Which Medicaid income test applies to a senior

Before the numbers, one clarification that trips up most families. The Medicaid income chart a calculator site shows you, usually framed as a percentage of the federal poverty level, is the MAGI test that covers working-age adults and children. Wyoming did not adopt that adult-expansion pathway, so for a senior or a person with a disability seeking long-term care, the MAGI chart is not the operative test at all.

The test that applies is the SSI-related pathway for the aged, blind, and disabled (ABD). It uses a different income standard (the $2,982 long-term-care cap below) and adds a hard asset limit that the MAGI pathway does not have. If you anchored on a poverty-level percentage, set it aside. The figures in this guide are the ones that govern Wyoming long-term-care eligibility.1

The regular Medicaid income limit for a working-age adult in Wyoming

Everything else in this guide is the long-term-care track. If you landed here as an adult under 65 (a 60-year-old between jobs, or someone in their early sixties caring for a parent and wondering about their own coverage), the question is different, and so is the answer.

In the 41 states, including the District of Columbia, that adopted the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, a working-age adult generally qualifies for full Medicaid with income up to 138% of the federal poverty level: roughly $1,835 a month, or about $22,000 a year, for one person in 2026, measured against a poverty guideline of $15,960.3,4 That MAGI pathway applies no asset test and no income disregards, and it counts Social Security in full, including any portion that is not taxable.5,6

Wyoming is not one of those states. It did not adopt the ACA adult expansion, so there is no "new adult group" here.7 A non-disabled, non-elderly adult without dependent children generally cannot get full Wyoming Medicaid on income alone, however low that income is. And because Wyoming is one of the nine non-expansion states with a coverage gap, an adult below the poverty line can be caught in the middle: earning too much for any Wyoming Medicaid pathway, yet, under the coverage-gap rules, too little for the Marketplace premium subsidies meant for higher earners.7

If that describes you, the realistic fallback is the Health Insurance Marketplace rather than Medicaid. Check what Marketplace coverage and any premium subsidy would cost for your income at HealthCare.gov before assuming you have no option, since that is the pathway most Wyoming adults in this position turn to. And apply through the Wyoming Eligibility System anyway: only the state can make the determination, and a different mandatory pathway (as a parent or caretaker relative at Wyoming's frozen standard, or on the basis of a disability) may still reach you.

The door the rest of this guide describes opens at 65. The aged, blind, and disabled track (the SSI-rate yardstick of $994 a month for an individual, plus the asset test) is the pathway for seniors and people with disabilities, and turning 65 or enrolling in Medicare is what moves a person onto it.1,8 So the pre-Medicare years are the hardest stretch in a non-expansion state, and the rules soften once the ABD pathway and, for most people, Medicare arrive at 65.

How Wyoming Medicaid income limits work: the income cap

Most states that run a "spend-down" let an over-income applicant subtract medical bills until they qualify. Wyoming does not work that way. It is an income-cap state, also called a "300% state" because the limit is set at 300% of the SSI Federal Benefit Rate, and that one design choice drives everything below.1

For nursing-facility and home-and-community-based waiver coverage, the Wyoming Division of Healthcare Financing, the state's Medicaid agency, sets the 2026 monthly income limit at $2,982, exactly 300% of the 2026 SSI Federal Benefit Rate of $994.1 If your gross monthly income is at or below that figure, the income test is satisfied. If it is above, you are over the cap, and Wyoming does not operate a medically needy spend-down for long-term care to bridge the gap.

That is where the Miller Trust comes in.

When Wyoming Medicaid income limits put you over the cap: the Miller Trust

In an income-cap state, being even slightly over $2,982/month would shut you out entirely, except for one legal fix that federal law guarantees. An over-income applicant must establish an irrevocable Qualified Income Trust, almost always called a Miller Trust, before Wyoming Medicaid will pay for long-term-care services.1

Here is the mechanism. Each month, the applicant's excess income (the amount above the $2,982 cap, and often more) is deposited into the trust account. Money sitting in a properly drafted Miller Trust does not count toward the income limit, so on paper the applicant is now under the cap. The trust then pays out in a fixed order set by federal rules: a Personal Needs Allowance to the resident, any spousal allowance, and the remainder toward the cost of care. Whatever is left in the trust when the recipient dies goes to the state, up to the amount Medicaid spent.1

Two things to know about the trust. It must be irrevocable, and it must be in place at the time of the eligibility determination, so this is work for an elder-law attorney, not a do-it-yourself form. And it does not shrink the income, it reroutes it. The resident still contributes nearly all of that income toward care; the trust is the legal container that lets Medicaid pay the rest.

The $2,000 asset limit

Income is one test; assets are the other, and they are judged separately. A single applicant for nursing-facility or waiver coverage may hold no more than $2,000 in countable assets. A married couple with both spouses applying is limited to $3,000.1

"Countable" is the qualifier that decides the outcome. Wyoming, like every state, exempts a long list of assets from the count:1

• The primary home, as long as equity stays under the 2026 federal minimum of $752,000 (the cap is waived when a spouse or dependent relative lives there)9
• One vehicle
• Household goods and personal effects
• A prepaid, irrevocable burial arrangement

So the $2,000 ceiling applies to things like bank accounts, a second vehicle, stocks, and other liquid holdings, not the roof over your head.1 The asset limit applies whether or not a Miller Trust is involved; the trust solves the income problem, not the asset problem.

The five-year look-back

Wyoming reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months before a long-term-care application.1,10 Giving away money or property for less than fair market value inside that window, such as 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 will not pay for long-term care, 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. For the broader toolkit, see our guide to Medicaid planning strategies.

What a nursing-home resident keeps

When Wyoming 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 such as clothing, a haircut, or a phone. In Wyoming the PNA is $50/month, per the state's Division of Healthcare Financing.1 That sits above the federal floor, which sets a minimum institutional PNA of $30/month for an aged, blind, or disabled individual; states may set theirs higher, and Wyoming does.11

For an applicant who needed a Miller Trust, the PNA is paid out of the trust before the rest goes to care. For one already under the cap, it is simply held back from the income that would otherwise be owed. Either way, $50/month is what stays with the resident.1 (For the national picture on how the allowance is set, 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. Wyoming applies the federal maximums for 2026:1,2

So a married couple is in a very different position from a single applicant. The community spouse can hold up to $162,660 in countable assets and keep monthly income within the federal MMMNA range while the other spouse receives Medicaid-funded care.2 The applicant's own $2,000 asset limit sits on top of, not inside, the spouse's allowance.1 The home-equity ceiling shown above is the federal 2026 minimum of $752,000, the standard Wyoming applies.9

After death: estate recovery

Like every state, Wyoming 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, with the federally required exceptions (a surviving spouse, or a surviving child who is under 21, blind, or permanently and totally disabled) and an undue-hardship waiver.12 Funds remaining in a Miller Trust at death are also subject to recovery up to what Medicaid paid.1 For how recovery works and where families have room to plan, see our Medicaid estate recovery explainer.

How to apply in Wyoming

Wyoming Medicaid long-term care is administered by the state's Division of Healthcare Financing. You apply through the Wyoming Eligibility System (WES), the state's online benefits portal, or by phone through the Long-Term Care Eligibility Unit.1

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, set up the Miller Trust before or alongside the application, since Medicaid cannot pay until the trust is funded and the income is rerouted. Apply even if you think you are over the limit. Between the trust pathway and the spousal protections, many people who assume they are disqualified are not.1

Learn More

Find personalized help working through the Wyoming Medicaid income rules 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.