Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: New York’s Medicaid resource limit for a single nursing-home applicant is $33,038 as of January 1, 2026, not $2,000. New York’s own eligibility bulletins also print “$2,000” every year, but that figure is the federal SSI cash-assistance program’s limit, printed for an unrelated calculation on the same page, not New York’s Medicaid figure.
The actual current figure, and the mix-up that trips people up
New York State Department of Health General Information System (GIS) message 26 MA/05, Attachment 1 (“New York State Income and Resource Standards for Non-MAGI Population, Effective January 1, 2026”) sets the SSI-Related Medicaid resource level for a household of one at $33,038. The same GIS message also states, verbatim and unchanged year to year, “The SSI resource levels remain $2,000.00 for individuals and $3,000.00 for couples”; that sentence describes the federal Supplemental Security Income cash-assistance program itself, a different program with a different resource test, not the Non-MAGI Medicaid standard in the same document’s own resource-level chart.
How New York got here
New York’s Non-MAGI resource level has climbed well past the federal default over the past several years: $30,182 in 2023, $32,396 in 2025, and $33,038 effective January 1, 2026 (GIS 26 MA/03 confirmed the 2025 level carried forward before GIS 26 MA/05 set the current one). The state recalculates this figure annually rather than leaving it fixed the way most states leave $2,000 unchanged.
What still counts as a resource under $33,038
The same DOH resource-standards chart is used for both the aged/blind/disabled community pathway and the spousal-impoverishment institutionalized-spouse calculation, where the $33,038 figure appears again as the institutionalized spouse’s own resource allowance. It is a separate figure from the community spouse’s own, much larger, resource allowance; see the New York community-spouse resource allowance page for that number.
| Citation | NYS DOH General Information System message 26 MA/05, “2026 Federal Poverty Levels,” February 13, 2026, Attachment 1 (“New York State Income and Resource Standards for Non-MAGI Population, Effective January 1, 2026”); corroborated by GIS 26 MA/03 (January 23, 2026) |
| What it says | “SSI-Related Medicaid Income Level 1,836 2,489 33,038 44,796 [household size 1 resource level column]; Institutionalized Spouse [resources] $33,038.” |
This page covers the applicant’s own asset limit. The amount an at-home spouse gets to keep is a separate, usually much larger, figure: see the New York community spouse resource allowance and what happens to a spouse’s money when the other spouse needs a nursing home.
Every citation on this page was read directly from the state’s own Medicaid agency, administrative code, or official eligibility manual this session. General information, not legal or financial advice; a figure this specific can change with a budget cycle or a rule amendment, and a county or state caseworker has the final say on any individual application.