Updated August 27, 2026. Quick answer: Louisiana’s spousal impoverishment section states the method and then points elsewhere for the figure: “The maximum amount of the couple’s combined countable resources that may be allocated to the community spouse can be found at Table Z-800 Spousal Impoverishment Maintenance Needs and Resource Standards.” The subtraction itself is simple — “Subtract the appropriate spousal impoverishment maximum protected resource amount from countable couple resources to determine the countable resources of the LTC/HCBS/ACH institutionalized spouse.” — but the amount that goes into it lives in a separate published table.
What Louisiana actually sets out
| What the state provides | What it says |
|---|---|
| Louisiana’s name for it | the Spousal Resource Standard, Medicaid Eligibility Policy Manual § I-1660 |
| What it is | “Spousal Resource Standard The maximum allowable amount of a couple’s combined countable resources which may be allocated for the use and maintenance of the community spouse.” |
| Where the figure lives | “The maximum amount of the couple’s combined countable resources that may be allocated to the community spouse can be found at Table Z-800 Spousal Impoverishment Maintenance Needs and Resource Standards.” |
| The calculation | “Subtract the appropriate spousal impoverishment maximum protected resource amount from countable couple resources to determine the countable resources of the LTC/HCBS/ACH institutionalized spouse.” |
| Court orders | “When a court order of support exists which stipulates that an amount greater than the Spousal Resource Standard be allocated for his use and the community spouse maintenance, the court-ordered amount shall be used as the Spousal Resource Standard.” |
| Resources acquired later | “Additional resources acquired after certification by the institutionalized spouse may be transferred to the community spouse to the extent that the maximum has not already been transferred.” |
| Income before resources | “Before the community spouse would be allowed to allocate additional assets to income- producing assets, the institutionalized spouse would have to transfer as much of the $500 from their income as possible to the community spouse.” |
How it works in practice
- The pointer to Table Z-800 is the honest limit of this page, and naming it is more useful than guessing past it. Louisiana’s manual states that the maximum allocable amount “can be found at Table Z-800 Spousal Impoverishment Maintenance Needs and Resource Standards”. That table is a separate document, republished as the federal standards change, and it was not read for this page.
- What the section does settle is the shape of the calculation. “Subtract the appropriate spousal impoverishment maximum protected resource amount from countable couple resources to determine the countable resources of the LTC/HCBS/ACH institutionalized spouse.” The protected amount comes off the top of the couple’s combined resources, and what remains is what the applicant is judged on.
- The definition is worth quoting because it fixes what kind of number this is. “Spousal Resource Standard The maximum allowable amount of a couple’s combined countable resources which may be allocated for the use and maintenance of the community spouse.” A maximum, and a maximum measured against the couple’s combined resources rather than either spouse’s own.
- A court order does not merely raise the figure — it replaces it. “When a court order of support exists which stipulates that an amount greater than the Spousal Resource Standard be allocated for his use and the community spouse maintenance, the court-ordered amount shall be used as the Spousal Resource Standard.” The manual says the court-ordered amount “shall be used as the Spousal Resource Standard”, which is stronger than treating it as one candidate among several.
- Resources acquired after certification can still be moved, up to the unused headroom. “Additional resources acquired after certification by the institutionalized spouse may be transferred to the community spouse to the extent that the maximum has not already been transferred.” A couple who did not transfer the full protected amount at the outset have not necessarily lost the difference.
- Income is applied before extra resources are protected, and the manual makes the point through a worked example rather than a rule. In it, “Before the community spouse would be allowed to allocate additional assets to income- producing assets, the institutionalized spouse would have to transfer as much of the $500 from their income as possible to the community spouse.” The order matters: income first, resources only if income cannot close the gap.
What the allowance is for, and why protecting the spouse at home is a federal requirement rather than a state kindness, is explained on the community spouse resource allowance page. The date the couple’s resources are counted is its own subject, on the snapshot date page, and the monthly income allowance that runs alongside it is on the MMMNA page. This page is the record for Louisiana.
What this page does not settle
- This page quotes a policy manual section and states no dollar figure, because the section states none. Any number for Louisiana must come from Table Z-800 as currently published.
- This page reads one source: Louisiana Medicaid Eligibility Policy Manual, Section I-1660, Spousal Impoverishment Resource Provisions (Louisiana Department of Health). It is the state’s own publication on this rule, but no state puts its whole treatment of a couple’s resources in a single document, and a detail that decides your case may sit in one this page did not read.
- The resource rule is one hurdle. The income rules for the spouse at home are separate and are decided on their own numbers, the level-of-care test is separate again, and the transfer-of-assets look-back is separate from all of them. Clearing this rule does not clear any of the others.
- Every quotation here was read against the source on August 27, 2026. The federal minimum and maximum figures are reset each January, and a state can revise its own rule without the page around it changing. Open the source before you rely on a number.
Eligibility is decided by the state agency on the whole file, not by one rule on one page. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one should move, retitle or spend a couple’s savings on the strength of a web page.
Sources
The source above was retrieved and read against the state text on August 27, 2026. Every quotation on this page was checked against those bytes.
Applying the allowance takes somebody with authority to sign for the applicant, and Louisiana’s power of attorney requirements cover how Louisiana requires the document to be signed and whether durability is the default.
Related: Louisiana’s Long-Term Care Partnership Program status; a separate, policy-based way some families protect assets alongside this spend-down allowance.