Quick Summary

A big part of Medicaid planning comes down to understanding two separate buckets: assets and income. This post focuses on the asset side — what Medicaid counts, what it ignores, and how Michigan measures eligibility for people who may need nursing home care or home-based long-term care through MI Choice. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start here: what you own, how it’s titled, and the date Medicaid measures it can make all the difference.

This is the first part of an ongoing series about Medicaid planning so you are aware of the powerful strategies available to protect your home and life savings from the devastating costs of nursing homes.

What’s Covered In This Blog

  • The basic asset test for Medicaid long-term care in Michigan

  • The $9,950 countable asset limit for a single person (2026 figure)

  • How the rules work differently for married couples

  • The snapshot date and why it matters for protecting a spouse at home

  • The difference between countable, unavailable, and excluded assets

  • Common excluded assets (home, vehicle, personal items, certain funeral plans)

  • Common trap areas (joint ownership, trusts, retirement accounts, notes, and land contracts)

  • How assets are valued for Medicaid purposes

  • The basics of the Protected Spousal Amount (PSA)

  • With all of the above rules, you would think that planning is fruitless.  It’s not — read on to the end and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much we are able to protect using the basic rules and some sophisticated planning strategies.

Here Are The Rules In Plain Language

Medicaid measures assets on specific dates. For a single person, the key date is the eligibility or application date. For married couples where only one spouse needs care, Medicaid may also look at what the couple owned on the snapshot date, which is used to calculate how much the spouse at home can keep.

For a single applicant, Medicaid long-term care generally requires countable assets to be at or below $9,950 (2026 figure). Not everything a person owns is counted. Assets fall into three categories: excluded assets, unavailable assets, and countable assets.

Excluded assets commonly include a homestead that meets the program rules, normal household and personal items, one vehicle, certain funeral and burial arrangements, and some other specific categories of property. Unavailable assets are assets a person owns but cannot reasonably access or sell, such as certain nonsalable property.

Married couples are treated differently depending on the situation. If only one spouse needs care, the spouse at home is allowed to keep a protected amount of assets called the Protected Spousal Amount. If both spouses are receiving long-term care, each spouse is typically treated as an individual for asset eligibility purposes.

Joint ownership is one of the most misunderstood areas of Medicaid planning. Some jointly owned assets may be treated as fully available to the Medicaid applicant, while others may be treated proportionally based on ownership. How the asset is classified matters.

Trusts also require careful review. Assets in revocable trusts are typically treated as available. Irrevocable trusts may still be counted depending on whether the trustee could distribute assets to the applicant. Trusts created by someone other than the applicant are treated differently depending on what rights the applicant has to the trust assets.

Assets must be properly valued for Medicaid eligibility. Bank and brokerage accounts are valued based on balances on specific dates. Real estate, vehicles, investments, land contracts, promissory notes, retirement accounts, and annuities all have specific valuation rules.

Finally, Medicaid eligibility only needs to be met for one day in a month for that month to count as eligible, but eligibility must usually be maintained during the application process while the case is being reviewed.

Real-World Planning Insight

Most Medicaid problems are not caused by families doing something wrong. They are caused by families doing something normal — adding a child to a bank account, transferring a property interest, or placing a home into a trust — without realizing how Medicaid categorizes assets.

Medicaid planning is often less about how much money someone has and more about how assets are classified, titled, and valued under the rules. Understanding those categories early can prevent unnecessary spend-down, delays, or eligibility problems later.

Closing Reflection

When families begin facing long-term care decisions, the financial rules can feel overwhelming. But once the asset rules become clearer — what counts, what doesn’t, and how eligibility is measured — planning becomes more manageable.

Medicaid planning is ultimately about stability and dignity. With the right understanding and guidance, families can make thoughtful decisions that protect a spouse, preserve resources where possible, and focus on care rather than confusion.

The rules are complex — but here is the simple truth:  (1) for married couples, we can generally protect the home and all (yes, I said all) of the married couples’ assets by restructuring assets and using a combination of a special type of trust and/or specific financial products; and (2) for single people, we can generally protect the home and well over 50% of the person’s assets using a combination of spend downs, special financial products, and gifting (yes, gifting can be done but it must be done in exactly the right way).

 

If you’d like to talk through a Medicaid planning question, you can call us at (517) 548-7400 or reach out here:  Contact Us