Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In Washington, a Medicaid nursing-facility resident’s Personal Needs Allowance is $108.74/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. Washington State Health Care Authority, HCA 19-0096: Washington Apple Health Income and Resource Standards states the figure directly.
Why Washington’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. Washington has done exactly that, setting $108.74/Month, effective January 1, 2026.
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.
One exception or caveat worth knowing
Washington sets a lower $41.62 figure for cash-assistance (ABD/TANF) clients specifically and up to $160 for state veterans home residents; $108.74 is the general nursing-facility figure.
| Citation | Washington State Health Care Authority, HCA 19-0096: Washington Apple Health Income and Resource Standards |
| What it says | “All other PNA Medical Institutions (1/1/26) $108.74” |
Figures verified against the Washington Health Care Authority sheet HCA 19-0096 (01/26), 42 U.S.C. 1396a(q) and 42 CFR 435.725; the ABD/TANF label and the 1988 floor date were not re-checked on September 30, 2026.
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.
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.