Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Maryland’s own current regulation makes the 300%-of-SSI income cap, not a low medically-needy figure, the primary standard for institutional Medicaid: COMAR 10.09.24.10 states “A person is categorically needy if his total income before deductions does not exceed 300 percent of the current SSI payment standard.” Several secondary Medicaid-planning sites characterize Maryland purely as a low-dollar medically-needy state; Maryland’s own codified rule runs the cap first.
What Maryland’s own regulation actually says
COMAR 10.09.24.10 states plainly that categorically-needy status, the primary route to institutional Medicaid, is available to a person whose “total income before deductions does not exceed 300 percent of the current SSI payment standard.” Maryland also applies a resource test under Schedule MA-2A alongside that income standard. That is the ordinary income-cap mechanism most other states use, currently around $2,982 a month.
Optional next step
Want help with Medicaid planning?
Ask an adviser how this rule fits your family’s plan for long-term care costs.
- No fee to request a match
- No obligation to hire
Expect questions about your situation, your name, email and phone, and phone verification by text. A match is not guaranteed.
The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
Opens here. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
How our partner relationships workThe medically-needy fallback, and where its dollar figure stands
The same regulation provides: “A person is medically needy if his total income before deductions exceeds 300 percent of the SSI payment standard or if countable resources exceed the applicable amount in Schedule MA-2A.” A commonly repeated $350 monthly figure for that medically-needy pathway appears widely in secondary sources, but this session could not independently confirm that specific dollar amount from a Maryland state document; it is not asserted as fact here.
Figures verified against COMAR 10.09.24.10 (regs.maryland.gov) and the Federal Register SSA notice of the 2026 SSI amount ($994) on September 29, 2026.
| Citation | COMAR 10.09.24.10 (Code of Maryland Regulations, Medicaid eligibility categories), Cornell LII mirror |
| What it says | “A person is categorically needy if his total income before deductions does not exceed 300 percent of the current SSI payment standard … A person is medically needy if his total income before deductions exceeds 300 percent of the SSI payment standard or if countable resources exceed the applicable amount in Schedule MA-2A.” |
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 Maryland’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.
Related: use the Medicaid spend-down calculator to estimate how much you would need to spend down to qualify for long-term-care Medicaid in your state.