Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Delaware’s Medicaid home equity limit for a single nursing-home applicant is $752,000 as of 2026, and Delaware’s own policy document states directly that this is the federal MINIMUM under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p(f), not the $1,130,000 maximum some states use. If your equity is above that figure, you are not eligible for nursing-home Medicaid unless a spouse, minor child, or disabled child of any age lives in the home.
What Delaware’s own document says
Delaware’s notice is the single clearest primary-source statement in this dataset: it names both federal figures side by side and states its own election in one sentence.
Get the house question looked at before it is urgent
Whether a home counts, and what happens to it afterwards, turns on facts about the household as well as on the state rule this page sets out, and an adviser can look at the property alongside the rest of the money before any of it has to be decided under time pressure.
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Why this is the lower federal figure, not the higher one
Delaware’s own document does not just publish a number; it states outright that the state has elected the LOWER end of the federally permitted range. Federal law under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p(f) lets each state pick anywhere between an annually-adjusted minimum and maximum; for 2026 that range runs from $752,000 to $1,130,000. Delaware chose the minimum, which most secondary Medicaid-planning sites do not distinguish from the more commonly assumed maximum.
| Citation | Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance, Administrative Notice A-16-2025, ‘2026 Home Equity Limits’ |
| What it says | “Minimum excess home equity limit $752,000 Maximum excess home equity limit $1,130,000 Delaware Medicaid has elected to use the minimum excess home equity amount.” |
This page covers whether the home counts as a resource while you are alive and applying. What happens to the same house after death is a separate question: see Delaware’s Medicaid estate recovery rules. And if a spouse, or a minor or disabled child, still lives in the home, the equity limit on this page does not apply at all: see what the law protects for a spouse who stays at home.
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 federal inflation adjustment, and a county or state caseworker has the final say on any individual application.