Wisconsin Medicaid Asset Limits

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: Wisconsin

Wisconsin's basic long-term-care asset rules

The current Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook lists a $2,000 SSI-related categorically needy asset limit for a group of one and $3,000 for a group of two. It directs workers to use the EBD asset limit for an unmarried institutionalized person and to use the separate spousal-impoverishment rules for a married institutionalized person (Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook 26-03).

For long-term-care services, Wisconsin's 2026 home-equity limit is $752,000. The handbook applies it to Institutional Medicaid, Family Care, Family Care Partnership, PACE, and IRIS, and defines home equity as current fair-market value less legally binding encumbrances. The rule does not apply when a spouse, a child under 21, or a disabled adult child lives in the home, and the handbook says the limit may be waived for undue hardship (Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook 26-03).

Wisconsin's community-spouse floor is unusually high

For a married applicant, Wisconsin assesses the couple's countable assets at the earlier of the first continuous 30-day institutionalization or initial functional eligibility for a community waiver. The 2026 community-spouse asset-share table gives the community spouse $50,000 when total countable assets are $100,000 or less, one-half of assets in the middle band, and a maximum share of $162,660 when couple assets reach $325,320 or more (Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook 26-03).

The public DHS spousal-impoverishment explanation makes the application result clearer: the applicant's $2,000 is added to the community spouse asset share. Thus the lowest published couple limit under that table is $52,000, rather than simply applying the ordinary two-person $3,000 EBD limit (Wisconsin DHS spousal-impoverishment guidance).

Income uses a medically needy pathway

Wisconsin's current institutions categorically needy income amount is $2,982 per month effective January 1, 2026. However, the handbook also recognizes Group B Plus for community-waiver applicants with income above that amount when the stated cost-based test is met, and it describes a Medicaid deductible equal to excess monthly income over a six-consecutive-month deductible period. Those rules support a spenddown and cost-share analysis rather than assuming that income over $2,982 automatically ends every Wisconsin long-term-care option (Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook 26-03).

2026 planning figures: $2,000 individual assets, $752,000 long-term-care home equity, $50,000 to $162,660 community-spouse asset share, and $2,982/month institutional categorically needy income. Countability, marital status, and program category remain decisive (Wisconsin Medicaid Eligibility Handbook 26-03).

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Wisconsin's basic long-term-care asset rules

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