Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Missouri’s “Vendor Care” program (its nursing-facility Medicaid category) lists no income-limit dollar figure at all in the state’s own eligibility-standards table, unlike every other program on the same page. Eligibility instead runs on a post-eligibility surplus computation with no hard ceiling.
The one program row with no number
Missouri’s MHABD Manual, Appendix J (“Eligibility Standards for Non-MAGI Programs”), lists an explicit monthly income limit for Spend Down, SSI, QMB, SLMB, and every other program in its table, except Vendor Care (nursing facility, ICF/IID, or psychiatric hospital), whose row carries no income-limit entry.
Surplus, not a cutoff
In place of a ceiling, Missouri computes a “Vendor Surplus”: all income paid to the facility as surplus, minus a $50 personal-needs allowance and allowed deductions such as medical-insurance premiums, allotments, and child support. There is no income level above which a Missouri nursing-facility applicant is simply denied.
| Citation | Missouri MHABD Manual, Appendix J (07/2026) |
| What it says | “Vendor Care – in a nursing facility, institution for the intellectually disabled, or mental or psychiatric hospital / Vendor Surplus Calculation … All income paid to the facility as surplus minus $50 personal needs allowance and allowable deductions: medical insurance premiums, allotments, child support” |
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 Missouri’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.