South Dakota Medicare Savings Program Resource Limits: What Counts and What Doesn't
The income limits get most of the attention, but resource limits knock out applications just as often. A senior with $1,200 in monthly Social Security income clearly qualifies on the income side — but a forgotten savings account or a CD held since the 1990s can push total countable resources past the threshold.
The 2026 Limits
South Dakota applies the federal baseline resource thresholds for all three Medicare Savings Program tiers:
| Status | Resource Limit |
|---|---|
| Individual | $9,950 |
| Couple | $14,910 |
These limits are the same for QMB, SLMB, and QI. DSS evaluates resources as of the first calendar day of the month.
What Counts
DSS tallies the value of:
- Checking and savings accounts — the full balance on the first of the month
- Certificates of deposit — face value
- Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds — current market value
- Real property other than the primary home — equity value
- Life insurance — if the combined face value across all policies exceeds $1,500, the total cash surrender value is counted. Below $1,500 in combined face value, the policies are excluded entirely
- Additional vehicles beyond one primary car — counted at equity value
What Doesn't Count
These assets are excluded from the resource calculation:
The primary home. DSS does not count the house the applicant lives in, regardless of its market value. The federal home equity cap of $752,000 applies only if the applicant is also seeking long-term care services. For a standalone MSP application, the home is fully excluded.
One vehicle. The primary car used for transportation is excluded regardless of value. A senior driving a paid-off truck worth $15,000 doesn't need to worry about it affecting eligibility.
Burial spaces. Burial plots for the applicant and immediate family members are exempt.
Irrevocable burial contracts. A prepaid funeral arrangement that cannot be canceled is fully excluded.
Revocable burial funds. Money set aside specifically for funeral expenses is excluded up to $1,500 per person. Families who worry about a $3,000 prepaid funeral savings account can potentially protect up to $1,500 of it under this exclusion, with the remainder counting toward the resource limit.
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Joint Accounts for Married Couples
For married couples living in the same household, DSS combines both spouses' resources against the $14,910 couple limit — even if only one spouse has Medicare. Both checking accounts, both savings accounts, both CDs: everything is pooled.
If spouses are legally separated or living in separate households, this combined evaluation stops. DSS looks only at the applicant's individual resources against the $9,950 limit.
One important distinction: the long-term care spousal impoverishment protections (Community Spouse Resource Allowance) do not apply to standalone MSP applications. Those rules kick in only when one spouse needs nursing facility care or home and community-based services under Medicaid.
What About Lump-Sum Payments?
A retroactive Social Security lump-sum payment — back pay, an adjustment, or a recalculated benefit — gets special treatment. The lump sum is excluded as income in the month received and excluded from countable resources for nine full calendar months after that. If your parent receives a $3,000 back-pay check in March, that $3,000 doesn't count toward the resource limit until January of the following year.
The Bank Statement Requirement
DSS requires complete bank statements covering the prior three calendar months for every account the applicant holds. That means all pages, including pages that show only transactions and no balances. Submitting partial statements or skipping an account triggers a verification request and delays the decision.
For families helping a parent apply, gathering three months of statements for a checking account, a savings account, and possibly a CD or investment account is the most time-consuming part of the application. Starting the document collection before filling out Form 270 saves weeks.
The South Dakota Medicare Savings Programs & Extra Help Guide breaks down which assets count, which are excluded, and walks through the bank statement submission process step by step.
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