Medicaid Nursing Home Income Limit in Illinois ($1,330/Month)

Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Illinois has no institutional income cap at all; it is a medically-needy spend-down state, and the standard someone spends down to is $1,330 a month for a household of one in 2026. The Illinois Department of Human Services’ own program-standards desk aid lists this AABD Medically Needy income standard as equal to 100% of the federal poverty level, which means the figure moves every year with the federal poverty guideline rather than waiting on a specific state rule change.

A standard that resets itself every year

IDHS’s WAG 25-03-02 Program Standards Summary Desk Aid lists “$1,330” at “100% FPL” for household size one, labeled “AABD 2026.” Because the figure is explicitly pegged to the federal poverty guideline rather than set by its own separate legislative or regulatory action, it changes automatically each year the federal poverty guideline changes, unlike the flat, sometimes years-old medically-needy figures some other states publish.

Spend-down, not a cap

Because Illinois has no income cap, an applicant whose income exceeds $1,330 is not disqualified; instead they incur medical expenses equal to the excess to spend down to the standard for that period, the same medically-needy mechanism used in other spend-down states, just tied here to a figure that tracks the federal poverty line automatically.

This page covers the income eligibility figure itself. How a state handles income above that figure (a Qualified Income Trust, a medically needy spend-down, or something else) is covered on Illinois’s excess income mechanism page.

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.