New Mexico Medicaid Asset Limits

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: New Mexico

New Mexico’s 2026 Institutional Care standards

HCA’s current 2026 aged, blind, and disabled Medicaid sheet lists an IC/Waiver income standard of $2,982 per month and an individual resource limit of $2,000. The same official sheet lists the 2026 average nursing-facility cost at $9,209, a figure that is also used in transfer-penalty calculations (HCA 2026 ABD Medicaid programs sheet).

Institutional Care Medicaid is not ordinary SSI Medicaid. HCA’s January 2026 pamphlet says categories 081, 083, and 084 require the applicant to meet SSI eligibility criteria except income, and identifies $2,982 as the maximum allowable countable monthly income for those categories (HCA January 2026 eligibility pamphlet). The HCA institutional-care rule separately states that countable resources may not exceed $2,000 (HCA 8.281.500 NMAC institutional-care rule).

Income cap and Income Diversion Trust

New Mexico is an income-cap state for this IC/Waiver pathway rather than a conventional medical-spend-down state. HCA’s trust rule says an applicant whose income exceeds the income standard may be eligible through creation and funding of an Income Diversion Trust, and the 2026 sheet separately lists “net income for IDTs” of $2,981 (HCA 8.281.510 NMAC trust policy; HCA 2026 ABD Medicaid programs sheet).

HCA requires an Income Diversion Trust to contain only the applicant’s pension, Social Security, and other income, including accumulated income. HCA also requires the state to receive amounts remaining at death up to the amount of Medicaid benefits paid, so it is not a general asset-protection trust (HCA 8.281.510 NMAC trust policy).

Home and community-spouse protections

HCA’s 2026 sheet lists excess home equity for long-term-care services at $752,000. The institutional-care rule explains that home equity is the home’s value less mortgages, liens, and other encumbrances, and that excess equity can put a person on restricted coverage while the home is owned (HCA 2026 ABD Medicaid programs sheet; HCA 8.281.500 NMAC institutional-care rule).

For a married couple with one spouse institutionalized, HCA’s 2026 sheet gives a Community Spouse Resource Allowance minimum of $32,532 and federal maximum of $162,660. The precise protected amount depends on the couple’s resource determination and applicable rules; it is not safely reduced to the single-applicant $2,000 figure (HCA 2026 ABD Medicaid programs sheet).

2026 core amounts: $2,982 monthly IC/Waiver income standard · $2,000 individual resource limit · $752,000 home-equity limit · $32,532 to $162,660 CSRA range (HCA 2026 ABD Medicaid programs sheet).

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New Mexico’s 2026 Institutional Care standards

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