Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: The $2,982 (300%-of-FBR) figure often quoted for Massachusetts actually governs only its Home and Community-Based Services waivers (Frail Elder Waiver, PACE, and similar programs). True nursing-facility MassHealth has no income ceiling at all: countable income above a small personal-needs allowance and allowed deductions goes toward the cost of care.
What is the Frail Elder Waiver income limit in Massachusetts?
The $2,982 figure, 300% of the federal benefit rate, governs the Home and Community-Based Services waivers, including the Frail Elder Waiver and PACE, under 130 CMR 519.007. It does not cap nursing-facility MassHealth, which has no income ceiling.
Two different MassHealth categories, two different tests
130 CMR 519.007 ties the 300%-of-FBR special income level to its waiver categories, among them the “Home- and Community-based Services Waiver-frail Elder” and the “Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE),” along with separate waivers for people with intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and acquired brain injury. Institutionalized individuals (someone actually admitted to a nursing facility) are governed by the separate 130 CMR 519.006 category, which carries no comparable income ceiling.
One limit is not the whole picture
An eligibility figure tells you where a line sits, not what to do about it, and an adviser can weigh income, savings and a spouse’s needs together before anything is moved.
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What institutionalized applicants pay instead
Under 130 CMR 520.026 (Long-term-care General Income Deductions), an institutionalized MassHealth member must contribute countable income above a personal-needs allowance ($72.80) and allowed deductions to the cost of nursing-facility care, with MassHealth covering the balance. There is no dollar figure above which a nursing-facility applicant in Massachusetts is simply ineligible on income grounds.
Figures verified against 130 CMR 519.006, 519.007 and 520.026 (as published by Cornell LII, latest amendment noted 11/24/2023) and the Federal Register 2026 SSI notice on September 30, 2026; any later amendment was not re-checked because mass.gov was not reachable.
| Citation | 130 CMR 519.006, 519.007 & 520.026 (Mass. Code of Regs., amended through 11/24/2023) |
| What it says | “contribute to the cost of care as defined at 130 CMR 520.026 : Long-term-care General Income Deductions” (130 CMR 519.006(A)(3), one of the requirements for institutionalized individuals). |
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 Massachusetts’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.