Georgia Medicaid Nursing Home Eligibility: Income, Assets, and Medical Requirements
Georgia Medicaid Nursing Home Eligibility: Income, Assets, and Medical Requirements
Your parent needs nursing home care, and you need to know whether Georgia Medicaid will help pay for it. The answer depends on three tests -- medical need, income, and assets -- and every one of them has specific numbers, specific rules, and specific workarounds that Georgia families need to understand.
The Medical Requirement
Georgia Medicaid requires a physician to certify that the applicant needs a nursing facility level of care. This is documented on Form DMA-6, and it means your parent must require the kind of daily, hands-on medical and personal care that can only be safely provided in an institutional setting.
In practice, this typically means needing help with multiple activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, transferring, toileting) or having a cognitive impairment like dementia that creates safety risks. A hospitalization followed by skilled nursing rehabilitation often establishes this medical need automatically.
The Area Agency on Aging (reach them at 1-866-552-4464) conducts functional assessments that help determine whether your parent meets this threshold.
The Income Test: $2,982 Per Month
Georgia is an income-cap state. Your parent's gross monthly income must be at or below $2,982 in 2026 -- that's 300% of the SSI Federal Benefit Rate of $994.
This is gross income before any deductions: Social Security, pensions, annuities, VA benefits, rental income, investment income. If your parent's combined income sources exceed $2,982 by even one dollar, they're disqualified.
There is no medically needy spend-down pathway in Georgia. Unlike states such as New York or California, Georgia doesn't let your parent "spend" excess income on medical bills to qualify. The income cap is absolute.
The workaround: Qualified Income Trust. If income exceeds $2,982, a QIT (also called a Miller Trust) can restore eligibility. The trust is an irrevocable account where the applicant's income is deposited each month. The trust pays the patient liability, and the excess is held for the Department of Community Health. The QIT must name the Georgia DCH as the primary residual beneficiary.
Only the applicant's income counts. A spouse's income is not included in the applicant's eligibility calculation, though it factors into spousal allowance calculations after approval.
The Asset Test: $2,000
Countable assets for a single applicant must be at or below $2,000. For a married couple where one spouse is applying, the calculation involves spousal protections (covered below).
What Counts as a Countable Asset
- Bank accounts (checking, savings, money market, CDs)
- Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
- Cash value of life insurance policies with face value over $1,500
- Retirement accounts in accumulation mode (not yet paying out)
- Additional real property beyond the primary residence
- Non-exempt vehicles (more than one)
What's Exempt (Doesn't Count)
- Primary residence: Equity up to $730,000 in 2026, provided the applicant intends to return home or a spouse or dependent relative lives there. The home remains exempt as long as one of these conditions holds.
- One vehicle: Regardless of value.
- Personal property: Clothing, furniture, household goods.
- Irrevocable burial trust: Up to $10,000 in a pre-need burial contract.
- Term life insurance: Policies with no cash value, regardless of face amount.
- Retirement accounts in payout status: If the applicant has converted an IRA or 401(k) into regular distributions based on life expectancy, the account is treated as income (monthly distribution amount) rather than a countable resource.
Spousal Asset Protections
When one spouse applies for Medicaid and the other remains in the community, federal spousal impoverishment protections kick in:
Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA): The at-home spouse can retain up to $162,660 in countable assets (2026 figure). The minimum is $32,530.
Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMNA): If the community spouse's own income falls below $4,066.50 per month, income can be diverted from the Medicaid applicant to bring the community spouse up to that floor.
The family home and one vehicle are exempt on top of the CSRA -- the at-home spouse doesn't lose the house.
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How the Three Tests Work Together
All three must be met simultaneously on the date of the Medicaid application:
- Physician-certified medical need (Form DMA-6)
- Gross monthly income at or below $2,982 (or QIT in place)
- Countable assets at or below $2,000 (or within spousal protections)
If any test fails, the application is denied. The most common denials are excess assets (the spend-down wasn't completed before filing) and missing QIT documentation (income exceeds the cap but no trust was established).
Applying
Applications go through the Division of Family and Children Services via the Georgia Gateway portal or your county DFCS office. Processing takes 30 to 45 days from a complete submission. Retroactive coverage is available for up to three months before the application date if the applicant was eligible during that period.
Our Georgia Medicaid Long-Term Care & Asset Protection Guide breaks down each eligibility test with worksheets for calculating countable assets, determining whether a QIT is needed, and documenting spousal protections.
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