Ask around and you’ll still hear it: “You can’t have more than $999 to get Medicaid.” Half of Missouri believes it. It hasn’t been true in years — and the real number is worth knowing, because the gap between the myth and the truth is more than $5,000 of your parents’ money.
Where the “$999” came from — and why it’s wrong
For decades, Missouri capped what a single person could own and still qualify for MO HealthNet (Missouri’s Medicaid) at $1,000. Practically speaking, that meant $999.99 — hence the number everyone repeats.
Then in 2016, the legislature passed House Bill 1565, which rewrote the rule. Starting in fiscal year 2018, the limit jumped to $2,000 for an individual, then climbed by $1,000 every year until it reached $5,000 (and $10,000 for a married couple) in fiscal year 2021.
Here’s the part that matters most, and almost nobody knows it: from fiscal year 2022 forward, the limit rises with inflation automatically. Missouri measures the Consumer Price Index each July and adjusts the figure — rounded, charmingly, to the nearest nickel. That’s why today’s limit is an odd-looking number instead of a round one.
Why the difference matters. The 2026 limit sits more than $5,000 above the figure people still repeat. Anyone who spends down to $999 because that’s the number they heard is parting with several thousand dollars the law lets them keep.
The numbers that actually matter in 2026
| What it is | Amount | In effect since |
|---|---|---|
| Resource limit — one person | $6,220.50 | July 1, 2026 |
| Resource limit — married couple, both applying | $12,441.00 | July 1, 2026 |
| Spousal share (Division of Assets) — minimum | $32,532 | Jan 1, 2026 |
| Spousal share (Division of Assets) — maximum | $162,660 | Jan 1, 2026 |
| Monthly income floor for the spouse at home (MMMNA) | $2,705.00 | July 1, 2026 |
| Average private-pay nursing home cost in Missouri — per month | $8,235 | April 1, 2026 |
| Average private-pay nursing home cost in Missouri — per year | $98,820 | April 1, 2026 |
| Personal needs allowance (kept by the resident) | $50 / month | current |
What each one actually does
The resource limit — $6,220.50
This is the finish line for a single applicant: countable assets at or below this figure. Note the word countable. A home you live in, one vehicle, personal belongings, and a properly arranged funeral plan generally don’t count at all. Families routinely mistake their total net worth for their countable assets and conclude they’re hopeless when they aren’t.
The spousal share — up to $162,660
Missouri’s plain-English name for what federal law calls the Community Spouse Resource Allowance: the amount the healthy spouse at home gets to keep. Missouri performs a “Division of Assets,” and the at-home spouse keeps half the countable assets, subject to a floor of $32,532 and a ceiling of $162,660.
Read that ceiling again. A married couple facing a nursing home is not looking at a $6,220 limit — the spouse at home may keep well over $160,000, and often more once planning is done.
The spouse’s income floor — $2,705 a month
Formally the Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance, this answers the question that terrifies every spouse: “If his income goes to the nursing home, what do I live on?” Missouri guarantees the at-home spouse a monthly floor of $2,705, and income is shifted from the nursing home resident to the spouse to reach it. Where housing and utility costs run high, that floor can be raised further.
$8,235 a month — and what it costs a family in a year
This is Missouri’s official figure for a month of private-pay nursing home care: a statewide average, not a quote from any particular facility. Multiply it out and you get the number that reshapes a family’s thinking:
$98,820 a year.
That is what a lifetime of savings runs into when someone enters a nursing home without a plan — and why a farm, a house, or thirty years of careful saving can disappear in two or three years.
The same figure does double duty as the penalty divisor, which catches families who tried to help themselves. Give away money or property within five years of applying, and Missouri divides what you gave away by $8,235 — and that is how many months you are ineligible. Gave a child $82,350 toward a house? Roughly ten months of ineligibility, beginning when you would otherwise have qualified. This is precisely why “just put the farm in the kids’ names” so often backfires.
Why these numbers keep moving
They update on three different clocks, which is why you’ll find contradictory figures online at any given moment:
- January — the federal spousal figures, including the spousal share floor and ceiling.
- April — most income-based limits, and the average nursing home cost figure.
- July — Missouri’s own inflation-indexed resource limits and the spouse’s income floor.
So a chart published in February is already partly stale by May. If you’re reading a Medicaid figure anywhere — including here — check the effective date beside it.
Figures on this page are drawn from the Missouri Family Support Division’s Eligibility Standards for Non-MAGI Programs (Appendix J), July 2026 edition. We update this page as new figures are published, but the numbers change several times a year — always confirm before relying on one.
The number that isn’t on this list
None of these figures answer the question families actually call us with: how much of this can we keep? That depends on things no chart can capture — whether there’s a spouse, what the assets are, what documents exist, and what’s already been done.
If your family is facing this now, the fastest way to a straight answer is a short conversation.
See if we can help — 9 quick questions
Or call us: (573) 334-5125
This page is general information about Missouri Medicaid figures, not legal advice, and reading it does not make you a client of the Law Office of Mark McMullin. Medicaid rules are complex and change often; how they apply to your family depends on facts unique to your situation. Please talk with an elder law attorney before making decisions about your assets.