While Medicare beneficiaries increasingly need long-term care, Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) are not typically covered by Medicare.
Medicaid fills the gap in Medicare coverage for long-term care, but its complex eligibility rules can make qualifying for benefits difficult. Additionally, eligibility rules vary significantly from state to state.
Medicaid nursing home coverage in Connecticut
Today, many enrollees receive LTSS in their homes. But some enrollees’ medical or living situations make nursing home care a better option.
Income limits: An applicant’s income must be less than the cost of nursing home care.
Nursing home enrollees can only keep a small portion of their income, including a personal needs allowance (of $75 each month) and money to pay for health insurance premiums (such as Medicare Part B and Medigap). Enrollees have to pay the remaining income toward their care.
When only one spouse needs nursing home benefits, the state may only count that spouse’s income toward the either the eligibility limit (equal to the cost of care), or what must be paid toward care.
Assets limits: The asset limit is $1,600 if single and $3,200 if married (and both spouses are applying). If only one spouse needs Medicaid, spousal impoverishment rules allow the other spouse to keep up to $162,660.
Note that some assets are never counted, including many household effects, family heirlooms, some prepaid burial arrangements, and one car.
Connecticut requires Medicaid nursing home enrollees to have less than $1,130,000 in home equity.
Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver programs in Connecticut
Medicaid also covers community-based long-term care. Medicaid programs that pay for this care are called Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers because recipients continue living in the community, rather than entering a nursing home.
The 2026 income limit for HCBS waiver coverage (Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders) in Connecticut is $2,982/month for a single individual, and $5,964/month for a married couple, although depending on living circumstances, enrollees may not be allowed to keep income up to that level.
Asset limits: The asset limit is $1,600 if single and $3,200 if married.
Connecticut requires Medicaid HCBS recipients to have less than $1,130,000 in home equity.
More information about HCBS eligibility categories and income limits is located under “CHCPE – Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders” on this website.
Spousal impoverishment rules in Connecticut
Only the applying spouse’s income is factored into determining eligibility for Medicaid LTSS. (Normally with Medicaid benefits, the income of both spouses is counted – regardless of who is applying).
Spousal impoverishment rules allow spouses of Medicaid LTSS recipients to keep a Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) from their Medicaid spouse’s monthly income, along with resource and housing allowances. These rules apply when one spouse receives Medicaid coverage for long-term care, and the other spouse doesn’t have Medicaid.
In Connecticut, these “community spouses” are allowed to keep:
Permitted home equity in Connecticut
Federal law requires states to cap home equity value for Medicaid nursing home and HCBS enrollees. Applicants with more home equity than this are not eligible for Medicaid LTSS benefits. In 2026, states set their home equity limits based on a federal minimum of $752,000 and maximum of $1,130,000.
Connecticut uses the highest limit on home equity allowed under federal law – meaning that applicants are not eligible for Medicaid LTSS benefits if their home equity is greater than $1,130,000.
Penalties for transferring assets in Connecticut
Because long-term care is expensive, individuals sometimes consider giving away or selling assets to a sympathetic party for an artificially low amount so they can become eligible for Medicaid LTSS benefits.
To counter this activity, states have a penalty period for Medicaid nursing home applicants who give away or transfer assets for less than their value; establishing this type of penalty is a federal law, so it applies in all states. States can choose to also have a penalty period for HCBS.
Connecticut has a 5-year Medicaid look-back period – for nursing home benefits and HCBS – during which time asset transfers and gifts are penalized. An applicant’s penalty period is calculated by dividing the amount given away or transferred for less than its value during this look-back period by the cost of nursing home care (which is $15,526 a month in Connecticut in 2026).
Estate recovery in Connecticut
A state’s Medicaid agency must attempt to recover what it paid for long-term care related costs beginning at age 55. States can choose to also recover the cost of all Medicaid benefits received by those enrollees. This is called estate recovery.
Prior to the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid benefits in 2014 to non-disabled adults under age 65, more states had estate recovery programs that recovered the cost of all Medicaid-covered services. This was seen as unfair to enrollees between 55 and 64 years old, because applicants in that age range with slightly higher incomes received subsidized exchange coverage – which is never recovered after an enrollee’s death. Connecticut is one of several Medicaid expansion states that changed their estate recovery rules to address this inequity.
Connecticut has chosen to only recover Medicaid’s payments for long-term care related services for enrollees who had Medicaid in 2014 or later. But the state recovers the cost of all Medicaid-covered services received before then.
Congress exempted Medicare premiums and cost sharing from Medicaid estate recovery beginning with benefits paid after December 31, 2009. However, when an MSP recipient receives Medicaid LTSS, Connecticut will attempt to recover its spending on those services.
