Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In Maryland, a Medicaid nursing-facility resident’s Personal Needs Allowance is $106.00/Month (individual); $212.00/Month (couple); the amount of their own income they keep for personal use each month, with the rest going to the facility as the patient-pay amount toward the cost of care. That is well above the $30/month federal floor set in 1988 and never raised since. Maryland Medical Assistance Program, Schedule MA-8: Spousal Impoverishment Standards, Medicaid Manual Appendix Schedules, Maryland Department of Health states the figure directly.
Why Maryland’s figure isn’t the federal floor
Federal Medicaid law requires only a $30-a-month personal needs allowance as a floor; a state is free to set its own, higher figure by statute, regulation, or agency policy. Maryland has done exactly that, setting $106.00/Month (individual); $212.00/Month (couple), effective July 1, 2025.
What the allowance covers, and what it doesn’t
The personal needs allowance pays for the things a facility’s daily rate doesn’t cover: clothing, haircuts, snacks, a phone or television, small personal purchases. It is deducted before the rest of a resident’s income is applied to the facility bill as the patient-pay (or post-eligibility treatment of income, PETI) amount. It is not extra money on top of what Medicaid already pays the facility; it is the one slice of a resident’s own income that Medicaid rules guarantee the resident, not the facility, keeps.
One exception or caveat worth knowing
The underlying COMAR regulation (10.09.24.10) establishes only the escalation mechanism (a base $60/month from 2004 adjusted annually up to 5% tied to Social Security COLA), not the current dollar figure; the current number came from this MDH-published implementing appendix.
| Citation | Maryland Medical Assistance Program, Schedule MA-8: Spousal Impoverishment Standards, Medicaid Manual Appendix Schedules, Maryland Department of Health |
| What it says | “Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) Income Effective Individual $ 106 7/1/25 Couple $ 212 7/1/25” |
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 facility or state caseworker has the final say on any individual case.