South Dakota Medicaid Asset Limits

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: South Dakota

South Dakota uses an income cap for LTC Medicaid

For the current 2026 cycle, DSS lists a $2,982 monthly limit for the relevant nursing-facility and waiver eligibility groups, described as 300% of the SSI standard benefit amount. The same page lists a $2,000 resource limit for an individual South Dakota DSS eligibility page.

A DSS spousal-care guide explains that a person in a medical facility whose income exceeds three times the SSI benefit may still be eligible when income is placed in an approved income trust. That is the core income-cap-state issue: a medical spend-down is not a substitute for a valid trust where the cap applies DSS spousal-care guide.

The most recent located official South Dakota training material describes a $3,000 resource limit when both spouses are receiving long-term-care services in the same month. Because that couple figure is not displayed alongside the 2026 individual figure on the current consumer page, confirm the household-specific figure with DSS before filing South Dakota DSS eligibility page; South Dakota legislative LTC training.

Home equity and the community spouse

South Dakota selected the lower federal home-equity option in its Medicaid state plan: $500,000 indexed annually by the urban CPI and rounded to the nearest $1,000. The 2026 lower federal figure is $752,000; the limitation does not apply when a spouse, a child under 21, or an adult disabled child resides in the home South Dakota home-equity state-plan supplement; CMS spousal-impoverishment guidance.

For a married applicant with a community spouse, the federal 2026 Community Spouse Resource Allowance range is $32,532 to $162,660. DSS’s guide applies the standard snapshot concept—counting combined resources at facility entry and protecting a share for the spouse at home—while older printed dollar illustrations should not be used as 2026 figures CMS spousal-impoverishment guidance; DSS spousal-care guide.

Countable is not the same as owned

DSS lists cash, bank accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, bonds, annuities, life estates, and real-estate sale contracts among items that can be countable in the spousal calculation. The guide separately identifies the home occupied by a spouse or dependent relative, a vehicle, many household goods, and some burial funds as not counted in its examples DSS spousal-care guide.

Asset ownership and the timing of a transfer still matter after eligibility. The DSS guide says that excess resources owned by the institutionalized spouse generally must be transferred to the community spouse promptly after eligibility, while protected Partnership-policy resources have different treatment DSS spousal-care guide.

2026 working figures: $2,000 individual resources; $2,982 monthly LTC income cap; $752,000 lower home-equity figure; and a $32,532–$162,660 federal CSRA range. Verify the applicant’s exact category, spouse status, and trust treatment with DSS South Dakota DSS eligibility page; CMS spousal-impoverishment guidance.

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South Dakota uses an income cap for LTC Medicaid

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