Medicaid spend-down estimator

Medicaid pays for most long-term nursing-home care in America — but only after a family’s countable savings are largely spent. This estimates how long private funds last before you’d likely qualify, so you can plan ahead instead of being caught by surprise.

A rough planning estimate only, not legal or financial advice, and not a Medicaid eligibility determination. Rules vary by state and change yearly. This ignores the look-back on gifts/transfers (60 months in most states; California uses 30 months — see your state page), the income (“Miller”) trust rules some states use, and exempt-asset details. Married couples get significant protections through the Community Spouse Resource Allowance, plus a minimum monthly income allowance this estimator does not model. The CSRA band itself is federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1396r-5(f)(2)(A)), and where a state sits inside it is a state election we cannot look up — which is why a married result here is a range and the months are counted against its low end. The per-state figures are not authoritative and you should not treat them as such. They come from the American Council on Aging compilation (medicaidplanningassistance.org) — a private compilation, not a government source, published by an organization that earns referral income from Medicaid planning. We checked a sample of it against states’ own publications and found real errors, so treat every state figure here as a starting point for a question, not an answer: your state Medicaid agency is the authority. See Methodology. Before acting, consult a certified elder-law attorney; improper transfers can trigger a penalty period.