Medicare Savings Program Asset Limits in Texas — What Counts and What Doesn't

The 2026 Limits

For QMB, SLMB, and QI, the 2026 countable asset limits are:

• Individual: $9,950
• Couple: $14,910

QDWI uses lower limits: $4,000 individual, $6,000 couple.

These limits are indexed to the Consumer Price Index and update every January. But the number that matters most isn't the limit itself — it's what HHSC includes in the count.

What Counts as a Resource

HHSC counts liquid and accessible financial assets:

• Bank accounts: checking, savings, and CDs — the full balance as of the application or renewal date
• Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds: market value of all brokerage holdings
• Retirement accounts: IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar accounts — but only if your parent has the legal right to withdraw funds as a lump sum or periodic distribution. An employer-based plan that doesn't allow distributions until separation from employment isn't countable while your parent is still employed.
• Life insurance: if the total face value across all policies exceeds $1,500, the full cash surrender value becomes countable. Under $1,500 in combined face value, the policies are excluded entirely.
• Non-homestead real property: rental property, vacant land, gas/oil/mineral rights

What Doesn't Count

The exclusions are more generous than most families expect:

• Primary home: excluded regardless of value, as long as your parent lives there and considers it their principal residence. There's no equity cap for MSPs in Texas.
• One vehicle: the primary car used for transportation, excluded regardless of market value
• Personal belongings: furniture, clothing, household items
• Burial plots and spaces: for the applicant, spouse, or immediate family
• Designated burial funds: up to $1,500 per person set aside specifically for burial, reduced by any excluded life insurance face value
• Inaccessible assets: property in probate, joint property where co-owners refuse to partition, accounts restricted by legal encumbrances

The Joint Account Trap

Joint bank accounts are the single most common asset-limit surprise. Under HHSC policy, there's a rebuttable presumption that all funds in a joint account belong to the MSP applicant. If your parent has a joint checking account with you that holds $15,000, HHSC counts the entire $15,000 as your parent's resource — even if $12,000 of it is yours.

To rebut the presumption, the co-holder must provide deposit records, tax filings, and a written affidavit establishing that they deposited and own specific funds in the account. Bank statements showing direct-deposit payroll going into the joint account under the co-holder's name are the strongest evidence.

If your parent is approaching the asset limit, separating the account before applying is simpler than fighting the presumption afterward.

Lump-Sum Social Security Payments

Retroactive Social Security payments — including adjustments from the Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminated WEP and GPO — are excluded from the resource count for nine months after receipt. This matters because a back-payment of several thousand dollars could temporarily push assets over the limit. After nine months, any unspent portion becomes countable.

Don't Self-Disqualify

The biggest mistake families make is assuming modest savings disqualify their parent. A senior with $8,000 in savings, a paid-off home, and a car is well under the asset limit. The home and car don't count at all, and $8,000 in the bank is $1,950 below the individual ceiling.

Our Texas Medicare Savings Programs & Extra Help Guide includes a countable-asset worksheet that walks through every category HHSC evaluates, with space to total up countable resources and compare against the limit before you apply.

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