Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In Michigan, a Medicaid nursing-facility resident’s Personal Needs Allowance (the state uses different terminology; see below) is $60.00/Month; 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. Bridges Eligibility Manual (BEM) 546: Post-Eligibility Patient-Pay Amounts, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services states the figure directly.
Why Michigan’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. Michigan has done exactly that, setting $60.00/Month, effective transmittal BPB 2026-018 (July 1, 2026 per the document).
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.
A note on the name
Michigan calls this the “patient allowance,” not “personal needs allowance”; the same functional concept.
One exception or caveat worth knowing
Veterans/surviving spouses receiving the VA Improved Pension keep $90/month instead of $60.
| Citation | Bridges Eligibility Manual (BEM) 546: Post-Eligibility Patient-Pay Amounts, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services |
| What it says | “The patient allowance for clients who are in, or are expected to be in, LTC and/or a hospital for the entire L/H month is $60. Deduct $60 as a need item for the client in the nursing home. Exception: The patient allowance for a veteran is $90 per month.” |
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.