The Florida Medicaid income limits vary sharply by category: a parent in a family of four must earn under about $720 a month, while an infant in that same household can qualify with household income up to $5,500. A single senior applying for the aged and disabled program has a 2026 ceiling of $1,171 per month, and a single applicant seeking nursing home coverage faces a hard cap of $2,982. Because Florida has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, most adults ages 21 to 64 without a disability and without dependent children cannot qualify at any income.
Who Florida Medicaid Actually Covers
Most states cover all adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Florida does not. That single policy choice is why the income limits below are so uneven: the program primarily serves children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities, and the thresholds for each group were set independently.
Parents and caretaker relatives who do qualify face an income ceiling at roughly 26 percent of the federal poverty level — about $598 per month for a family of three.1Florida Department of Children and Families. Determining Your Income Limit A childless adult over 20 without a disability has essentially no Medicaid pathway in Florida, even with zero income.
Income Limits for Children and Pregnant Women
Children and pregnant women qualify under MAGI-based Medicaid, which uses Modified Adjusted Gross Income and does not impose an asset test. The 2026 federal poverty level is $15,960 for a single person and $33,000 for a family of four.2HHS ASPE. 2026 Poverty Guidelines – 48 Contiguous States
The following monthly limits take effect in April 2026:3Florida Department of Children and Families. Family Related Medicaid Income Limits
- Pregnant women (185% FPL): $2,461 for a household of one, $4,212 for a family of three, $5,088 for a family of four.
- Infants under age 1 (200% FPL): $2,660 for a household of one, $4,554 for a family of three, $5,500 for a family of four.
- Children ages 1 through 5 (133% FPL): $1,769 for a household of one, $3,028 for a family of three, $3,658 for a family of four.
- Children ages 6 through 18 (133% FPL): same dollar thresholds as ages 1 through 5.
MAGI-based programs apply a 5 percent FPL disregard when doing so would make an otherwise ineligible person eligible, which effectively raises the cutoff slightly for borderline applicants.3Florida Department of Children and Families. Family Related Medicaid Income Limits
If a child’s household income lands just above the Medicaid threshold, Florida KidCare, the state’s separate CHIP program, reaches somewhat higher incomes: up to about 200 percent of the federal poverty level for infants and up to 140 percent for children ages 1 through 5.4MACPAC. Medicaid and CHIP Income Eligibility Levels as a Percentage of the Federal Poverty Level for Children and Pregnant Women by State File a KidCare application if your child falls into that gap.
Income Limits for Parents and Caretaker Relatives
Parents and caretaker relatives face the lowest Medicaid income limits in the state. The thresholds sit around 26 percent of the federal poverty level, and the following monthly amounts apply:1Florida Department of Children and Families. Determining Your Income Limit
- Family of two: $476 per month
- Family of three: $598 per month
- Family of four: $719 per month
A parent earning $10 an hour at 20 hours a week already exceeds the family-of-four cap. Adults ages 19 and 20 without children are evaluated against the same table. For most working parents, the income limit is well below rent.
Income Limits for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Medicaid
Florida’s MEDS-AD program (also called Regular Medicaid for the Aged and Disabled) covers people age 65 and over and people determined blind or disabled. The ceiling is set at 88 percent of the federal poverty level.5Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 409.904 – Optional Payments for Eligible Persons From April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027, that is:
- Single applicant: $1,171 per month
- Married couple: $1,588 per month
Anyone receiving Supplemental Security Income is automatically enrolled in Florida Medicaid. The 2026 SSI federal benefit rate is $994 per month for an individual and $1,491 for a couple, both inside the MEDS-AD threshold.6Social Security Administration. SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2026
Income Limits for Nursing Home and Long-Term Care
Applicants who need a nursing home, a home and community-based waiver, or Medicaid-funded assisted living are measured against a different standard: 300 percent of the SSI federal benefit rate. For 2026 that comes to:7Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. January 2026 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards
- Single applicant: $2,982 per month
- Married couple when both apply: $5,964 per month
When one spouse applies and the other stays in the community, only the applicant’s income counts toward the cap. The cap itself is a hard line. A gross income one dollar above $2,982 disqualifies you through the standard pathway, though a Qualified Income Trust can fix that (covered below).
Florida also protects the at-home spouse’s income. The community spouse is entitled to keep a Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance, with a 2026 minimum of $2,644 per month. If the community spouse’s own income falls below that figure, part of the institutionalized spouse’s income can be diverted to make up the difference. A family whose actual housing and living costs exceed $2,644 can ask for a higher allowance through a fair hearing, but the burden of documenting those costs falls on the family.
The Medically Needy Spend-Down for Over-Income Applicants
Florida offers a Medically Needy pathway for people whose income is too high for standard Medicaid but who have significant medical bills. The medically needy income limit is $180 per month for a single applicant and $241 for a couple.8Florida Department of Children and Families. Appendix A-7 – Family Related Medicaid Income Limit Chart Those figures are not typos. The number is deliberately low because the program works as a spend-down.
The math: take your countable monthly income, subtract $180 (or $241 for a couple), and the difference is your share of cost. You must incur that amount in medical expenses each month before Medicaid covers anything else. A single applicant with $1,500 in monthly income has a $1,320 share of cost. Once $1,320 in medical bills accumulates in a given month, Medicaid pays the remainder for that month. The counter resets at the start of each month.
What Florida Counts as Income
Florida counts almost every source of money coming in. That includes wages, self-employment earnings, Social Security retirement and disability benefits, pensions, annuity payments, IRA withdrawals, rental income, and investment dividends. For most non-MAGI programs the state uses gross income, so Social Security payroll taxes and Medicare premiums are not subtracted first.
A few items are excluded. Holocaust restitution payments do not count. VA Aid and Attendance benefits — the supplemental payments made above the base VA pension for veterans who need daily assistance — are also excluded.9Veterans Affairs. VA Aid and Attendance Benefits and Housebound Allowance The base VA pension itself does count.
For MAGI-based programs covering families, children, and pregnant women, income follows federal tax rules. Deductions like student loan interest and IRA contributions reduce countable income.
Qualified Income Trusts When Income Exceeds the Long-Term Care Cap
If your gross monthly income is above $2,982, a Qualified Income Trust (a Miller Trust) is how you still qualify for long-term care Medicaid. For over-income applicants this is not optional.
Each month, the portion of your income that exceeds the cap is deposited into a separate, irrevocable trust account. A trustee, often a family member, pays out funds only for permitted expenses. Medicaid then disregards the trust income when checking eligibility. Permitted uses include your patient-responsibility payment to a nursing home, additional care an institution does not cover, dental work, and therapies Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for. Routine household bills — utilities, cable, car insurance, entertainment — are not permitted uses, and spending the trust on them puts the Medicaid benefit at risk. On the beneficiary’s death, remaining trust funds go to the state as reimbursement, up to what Medicaid spent.
A note on scope: this article covers the income side of eligibility. Nursing home and MEDS-AD Medicaid also impose asset limits ($2,000 for a single applicant, with a separate Community Spouse Resource Allowance for the at-home spouse), and long-term care applicants face a five-year look-back on asset transfers. MAGI-based programs for children, pregnant women, and families have no asset test at all. If you are close to the income limit, confirm the asset rules for your specific program before applying.
How to Apply
Florida Medicaid applications are submitted through the MyACCESS portal, which also handles SNAP and cash assistance.10Florida Department of Children and Families. MyACCESS – Home Paper applications can be mailed or filed in person at a local Department of Children and Families office. The Department processes applications and may request additional documentation or an interview.
For long-term care Medicaid specifically, expect to produce five years of bank statements, documentation of any asset transfers, proof of every income source, and a medical assessment confirming the level of care you need. Incomplete records are the most common reason an application stalls. If your income is above the long-term care cap, set up the Miller Trust before you apply rather than after a denial.