Medicaid Nursing Home Income Limit in Minnesota ($2,982/Mo Gate)

Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Minnesota is often filed as a flat 300%-cap state; it is not. The Department of Human Services’ own training material shows the $2,982-a-month figure (2026) is a “Special Income Standard” that gates a waiver/institutional level-of-care determination, not the eligibility ceiling itself. Someone above it does not simply lose eligibility the way they would in a pure income-cap state; a separate, lower spend-down obligation for ongoing long-term-care Medicaid applies underneath it.

What the $2,982 figure actually gates

Minnesota DHS’s own training page states: “The SIS amount is equal to three times the Supplemental Security Income Federal Benefit Rate (FBR).” It separately lists “January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026: $2,982.” The Special Income Standard (SIS) functions in this material as part of the Elderly Waiver level-of-care income test, not as a flat statement of “over this, you’re ineligible.”

What is not independently confirmed here

This session confirmed the $2,982 SIS figure directly from Minnesota’s own training material, but did not independently confirm the exact dollar figure of the separate, lower ongoing spend-down standard that governs actual medical assistance long-term-care eligibility once the SIS gate is passed. That figure is deliberately left unstated here rather than approximated.

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 Minnesota’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.