Financial Medicaid Requirements – Income

To be eligible for Medicaid, you must have limited income and assets.

Income

The amount of income you can have varies by state, and also varies depending on which eligibility groups each state covers. When the state determines your financial eligibility for Medicaid, the state will count some of your income, but not all of it. Your income includes these sources:

• Regular benefit payments such as Social Security retirement or disability payments

• Veterans benefits

• Pensions

• Salaries

• Wages

• Interest from bank accounts and certificates of deposit

• Dividends from stocks and bonds

However, Medicaid generally does not count such things as:

• Nutritional assistance such as food stamps

• Housing assistance provided by the federal government

• Home energy assistance

• Some of your earnings if you have earned income from work you do

• Medicaid will count payments to which you are entitled even if you don’t receive all of the payments. For example, if you have earnings from which income taxes are withheld, Medicaid will count the entire amount of your earnings, including the amount that is withheld for taxes. If you and your spouse receive joint payments, such as rental income, the state allocates half to you and half to your spouse.