Your primary home is generally exempt from Medicaid's asset limit when you live in it, when you sign intent to return from a nursing home or hospital, or when your spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child of any age still occupies it. Long-term care applicants face a 2026 home equity cap between $713,000 and $1,130,000 in most states. Exempt status during life does not always block estate recovery after death.
Medicaid agencies start with a low countable asset limit, often $2,000 for a single nursing-home applicant. Your house would blow past that ceiling in a week if every dollar of equity counted. Federal law carves the primary residence out of the resource test when specific occupancy rules are satisfied.
The home can be a stick-built house, a mobile home you use as living quarters, or even a houseboat in some states. What matters is that the property functions as your principal place of residence, not that it sits on a quarter-acre lot in suburbia.
Linda in Pinellas County, Florida entered a skilled nursing facility after a fall. Her husband Frank still lived in their Clearwater bungalow worth $310,000 with a $95,000 mortgage. Florida AHCA kept the house off Linda's countable worksheet because Frank qualified as a protected spouse resident. Linda's $48,000 CD balance, not the deed, drove her spend-down math.
Three federal pathways keep the homestead exempt: you live there now, you are temporarily absent with intent to return, or a spouse, minor child, or blind or disabled child lawfully resides there. Our Medicaid exempt assets guide walks through how those lines interact with vehicles, burial funds, and household goods on the same application.
Common mistake:Assuming Medicaid will ignore every property you call "home." A cabin in the Smokies you visit twice a year counts as real estate, not a homestead. List each parcel on the form and ask counsel which deed qualifies before you file.
Congress added a home equity interest limit in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. States must apply a cap when no protected relative lives in the house and the applicant seeks nursing-facility services or certain Home and Community-Based Services waivers. For 2026, most states publish a figure between $713,000 and $1,130,000.
Equity interest is not the Zillow estimate alone. Workers take current market value, subtract valid mortgages and liens, then count only your ownership share. Patricia in Austin owned 100% of a $820,000 home free and clear. Texas HHSC compared her $820,000 equity interest to the $713,000 cap and treated $107,000 as a countable resource until she paid down debt with a home equity loan, which federal rules explicitly allow.
New York elected the federal maximum. A widow in Queens with $900,000 in equity interest and no spouse at home could still exempt the house because New York's 2026 cap sits at $1,130,000. The same facts in Columbus, Ohio would fail the $713,000 Ohio Department of Medicaid test.
Run your address through the Florida calculator, Ohio calculator, or your own state tool before you assume the deed alone protects you. Pair the result with the Medicaid asset limits guide for countable bank and retirement balances.
| State | Equity cap | Cap waived when |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | $713,000 | Spouse, minor child, or blind/disabled child lives in home |
| Ohio | $713,000 | Same federal protected-resident rules |
| Texas | $713,000 | Same; HHSC MEPD long-term care worksheets |
| New York | $1,130,000 | Federal maximum election; NYC metro homes often tested here |
| California | $713,000 on LTC sheets | Separate $130,000 Medi-Cal asset limit in 2026 |
Applicants who move into a nursing home without a spouse or dependent child at home can still exempt the house by stating intent to return. The statement appears on the resource section of the Medicaid application in Florida, Ohio, Texas, and most other states. You are not certifying that discharge is likely next Tuesday. You are telling the agency the property remains your principal residence during a temporary absence.
Robert in Cleveland fractured his hip and landed in a Parma skilled nursing facility. His wife had died in 2023, so no protected resident occupied their bungalow. Ohio Medicaid kept the home exempt because Robert checked intent to return and his equity interest hovered near $180,000, far below Ohio's $713,000 cap. If his doctor later documented that return was impossible, the caseworker could revisit the line at annual redetermination.
Some state manuals add a six-month physician certification for applicants in institutions with no family at home. North Dakota policy, mirrored in parts of other Midwestern handbooks, asks whether return is likely within six months when no spouse or dependent child remains. Read your county's current manual before you treat intent to return as permanent.
Checking "no intent to return" to speed paperwork is one of the costliest mistakes on the form. That answer can flip a $400,000 homestead into a countable asset overnight. Mark intent to return unless qualified counsel tells you otherwise, then document any home maintenance or tax payments that support the claim.
Common mistake:Renting the house to cousins while you claim intent to return. A signed lease can defeat the occupancy test even if you still own the deed. Cancel the lease or do not claim the exemption until counsel reviews the facts.
Federal law lists three automatic protected residents: your spouse, your child under 21, and your blind or permanently disabled child of any age. When one of them lawfully lives in the home, the equity cap does not apply. Medicaid treats the entire homestead as exempt regardless of value in that scenario.
A sibling who cared for you for a year before your nursing-home admission may block a TEFRA lien during your life under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p, but sibling occupancy does not automatically remove the equity cap at application unless your state adopts a broader rule. Do not conflate lien protection with resource-test exemption.
Carlos in San Antonio entered a nursing home while his daughter Ana, age 17, finished high school in the family home. Texas HHSC exempted the house without testing equity against $713,000 because Ana qualified as a minor child resident. When Ana turned 21 two years later, the agency re-ran the equity test unless Carlos still had a valid intent-to-return statement on file.
Couples face a separate twist under spousal impoverishment rules. The community spouse may live in the house at any equity level while the institutionalized spouse receives Medicaid. If that community spouse dies and the nursing-home spouse inherits the property, the home can become countable until it is sold and proceeds are spent on care. Cross-check inheritance plans with a NAELA attorney before you assume the deed stays safe forever.
Exempt status answers one question only: does the house count toward the $2,000-style resource limit while you are alive? Medicaid cannot seize the deed or force a sale during your life to meet that test. A separate set of rules governs estate recovery and liens after death.
States must seek recovery for nursing-facility services, HCBS waiver costs, and related hospital and drug expenses paid for enrollees age 55 and older. Many states file probate claims or enforce liens against homes that were exempt for decades. Surviving spouses, minor children, blind or disabled children, and certain siblings in the home may block recovery, but the list is narrower than the application-time exemption list.
Margaret in Tampa received ten years of nursing-home Medicaid. Her $275,000 home stayed exempt on every annual renewal because she had signed intent to return and never rented it out. After she died, Florida's Medicaid Estate Recovery Program filed a claim against the probate estate. Her son, who lived out of state, had to negotiate a payoff from sale proceeds. Exempt during life did not mean immune after death.
Read our Medicaid lien on home article for TEFRA lien timing, hardship waivers, and how recovery differs from the resource test at application. Planning for recovery is separate from proving the house is non-countable today.
Florida AHCA applies the $713,000 equity cap on nursing-home Medicaid when no protected resident lives in the house. The agency still exempts one vehicle and $1,500 in burial funds on the same DCF worksheet. A couple in Naples with a $600,000 homestead and $90,000 in IRAs may spend down retirement balances while the deed stays off the count.
Ohio Department of Medicaid mirrors the $713,000 cap for institutional cases filed through county Job and Family Services offices. Ohio also enforces strict countable treatment on IRAs in the applicant's name, so a Parma bungalow below the cap does not help if a $120,000 IRA sits in the same packet.
Texas HHSC posts identical equity figures on MEPD long-term care materials. Harris County applicants often pair homestead exemption with Miller Trust income planning because Texas caps nursing-home income differently than assets. Run the Texas Medicaid spend down calculator for both tests.
New York's $1,130,000 ceiling protects more high-value homes in Brooklyn and Westchester than Gulf Coast states using the $713,000 tier. New York also runs separate income spend-down programs for community Medicaid, so a Queens applicant may face income stacking even when the house is fully exempt.
California Medi-Cal reinstated a $130,000 individual asset limit in 2026 while long-term care sheets still reference a $713,000 homestead equity line. Bay Area families can hold more countable savings than Florida applicants before spend-down begins, but equity math still matters on nursing-home pathways. Use the California calculator for that hybrid model.
Common mistake:Filing in the state where your daughter lives instead of the state where you receive care. Medicaid financial eligibility follows the certifying facility's state. Open the calculator for the admission state, not the family guest room zip code.
Homestead exemption is only one line on the resource worksheet. Spend Down Calculator tools total your countable assets after you flag exempt property. Enter bank balances, retirement accounts, and non-homestead real estate, then compare the result to your state's 2026 limit.
The widgets do not decide whether your intent-to-return statement will survive redetermination, and they do not compute gift penalties from the five-year look-back. They do show how much lawful spend-down may remain once you treat the house as exempt.
Start with the New York or Florida page if those are your filing states, then adjust after an attorney confirms homestead classification.
Your primary home is usually not counted when you live there, state intent to return from a facility, or a spouse, minor child, or blind or disabled child lives there. Vacation property and rentals always count. Long-term care applicants must also keep equity interest at or below the state cap, which ranges from $713,000 to $1,130,000 in 2026.
Most states use $713,000 as the home equity interest cap for nursing-home and waiver applicants when no protected resident occupies the house. New York elected the $1,130,000 federal maximum. Equity interest equals your share of market value minus valid mortgages and liens.
Yes in most states, if you sign intent to return on the application and your equity sits below the state cap. The statement tells Medicaid the house remains your principal residence during a temporary absence. Agencies may revisit the claim at annual renewal if medical records show return is impossible.
Medicaid generally cannot force a sale or seize your homestead during life to meet the resource test. Some states place TEFRA liens when you are permanently institutionalized and no protected relative lives in the home. Estate recovery after death is a separate process from the application-time exemption.
Sale proceeds become countable cash the month they hit your account unless you reinvest quickly in another exempt asset under state rules. Report the sale at your next redetermination. Paying off medical debt or funding an irrevocable funeral contract may be allowed spend-down channels depending on your state manual.
Yes. When your spouse lawfully resides in the home, federal rules exempt the homestead without applying the equity cap. The community spouse may also keep a Community Spouse Resource Allowance that protects a share of joint savings on top of standard exclusions.
