Can a nursing home take your savings? If an admissions coordinator or the business office told you this week that Mom “has too many assets” for Medicaid, your stomach dropped and that is the question you went home with. Here is the first thing to know. A nursing home does not decide Medicaid eligibility. Your state Medicaid agency does. The facility is reading a checklist, not issuing a ruling, and it cannot take anything.
- Can a Nursing Home Take Your Savings? What the Sentence Actually Means
- What Usually Happens Next
- What Counts and What Does Not
- Common Mistakes
- What to Do This Week
- Can a Nursing Home Take Your Savings? Frequently Asked Questions
- Key Takeaways
- Where to Get Free Help
- Official Sources & Resources
- Related Guides
When a family asks “can a nursing home take your savings,” what happened is usually one of three things. Someone glanced at a bank statement. Someone saw a house or a life insurance policy. Or someone saw a transfer on a recent statement. None of those is a decision. A decision comes on paper, from the state, with appeal rights printed on it. This guide walks through what the facility’s comment means and what you can do in the next seven days.
Can a Nursing Home Take Your Savings? What the Sentence Actually Means
Medicaid long-term care has a resource test and an income test. “Countable resources” are things the state counts, like checking accounts and non-retirement investments. Some things are excluded. When staff imply the answer to “can a nursing home take your savings” is yes, they are guessing that countable resources sit above the state’s limit. That limit is set by your state, not by the facility, and the facility never receives the savings — the state simply does not pay until the resident is under the line.
There is one federal anchor worth knowing. If your parent is married, the spouse at home keeps a protected share. For 2026, CMS set the community spouse minimum resource standard at $32,532.00, effective January 1, 2026. The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $2,643.75 for most states. The maximum is $4,066.50. See Medicaid.gov spousal impoverishment.
Your state’s asset limit, income cap and penalty divisor are different numbers, and your state’s figure is on its state guide. Do not let anyone hand you a national number for those. When a facility quotes a specific dollar figure, ask where that figure came from.
What Usually Happens Next
If your parent came from a hospital, Medicare may pay first. Medicare Part A covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care per benefit period. In 2026, days 21 through 100 carry a $217.00 daily coinsurance. Details are on Medicare.gov skilled nursing facility care.
When skilled coverage is ending, the facility must give a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage, Form CMS-10123, generally at least two days before the last covered day. If you appeal, you also get a Detailed Explanation of Non-Coverage, Form CMS-10124. Both forms are described at the CMS Beneficiary Notices Initiative.
Next comes the Medicaid application. There is no single national application form number. Each state uses its own form, so ask the state office for the exact name and number. This is the step where families most often hear “can a nursing home take your savings” answered with a shrug, because the facility wants the file to look clean before it is filed.
The state then has a deadline. Under 42 CFR 435.912, a determination may not exceed 45 days, or 90 days when eligibility is based on disability. That rule is at eCFR 42 CFR 435.912.
The state also reviews transfers. The look-back period is 60 months before the application date. Gifts or below-market transfers in that window can trigger a penalty period. The penalty length equals the transferred value divided by the state’s average private-pay nursing home rate. Transfers to a spouse are treated differently. See the CMS transfer of assets backgrounder.
If the state denies, the notice must explain appeal rights. Under 42 CFR 431.221(d), states must allow a reasonable time to request a fair hearing, not to exceed 90 days from the date the notice is mailed. Some states allow only 30. Read your notice. The rule is at eCFR 42 CFR 431.221.
What Counts and What Does Not
This is a general map, not your state’s rulebook. Treatment varies, and only the state office applies it to your parent’s file. It is also the honest answer to “can a nursing home take your savings”: the state counts some of it, excludes the rest, and the facility takes none of it.
| Item | Generally counted? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Checking and savings | Yes | Balances on the first day of the month usually matter |
| Home your parent lives in | Often excluded, with limits | Federal home equity limits apply; confirm your state’s amount |
| One vehicle | Often excluded | Rules differ by state |
| Life insurance with cash value | Often yes | Term policies are treated differently |
| Prepaid irrevocable burial contract | Often excluded | Limits vary; ask the state office |
| Spouse’s protected share | Protected up to a limit | 2026 federal minimum standard is $32,532.00 |
| Gifts made in last 60 months | Reviewed | May create a penalty period, not a denial forever |
Notice how much of that column says “often” or “varies.” That is exactly why a facility answers too early. Staff see a total and stop there. The state looks at the composition.
Common Mistakes
Mistake: spending down assets fast because someone at the desk said the savings were a problem. Fix: do nothing irreversible until the state has the application and has asked its questions.
Mistake: moving money to your own name to “get it under the limit.” Fix: understand that transfers inside the 60-month look-back are reviewed and can create a penalty period — and that this is the one way the answer to “can a nursing home take your savings” becomes yes, because the family ends up paying the penalty months privately.
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Mistake: never filing because the facility said it would be denied. Fix: file anyway, because only a written state notice creates appeal rights and a decision date.
Mistake: missing the appeal window on a denial notice. Fix: write the deadline from the notice on a calendar the day it arrives.
Mistake: ignoring the married-couple rules when the comment was about a joint account. Fix: ask the state office in writing about a resource assessment for the couple.
What to Do This Week
First, ask the facility for the statement in writing. Ask which asset, which dollar amount, and which state rule. A verbal comment about the savings is not something you can respond to. A written figure is.
Second, call free help before you call anyone who charges. Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselor is free, and you can find yours through Medicare.gov. Your Area Agency on Aging is free through the Eldercare Locator. Legal aid is free for those who qualify, through LSC. Any of them will answer “can a nursing home take your savings” for your state in one call.
Third, gather 60 months of statements, deeds, titles and policies before the application. Then read your state’s guide on this site for its asset limit, income cap and penalty divisor. That is where the number that actually applies to your parent lives.
Can a Nursing Home Take Your Savings? Frequently Asked Questions
Can the nursing home refuse to admit my parent over this?
Admission policies are a facility matter and vary. But a comment about the savings is a facility judgment about payment, not a Medicaid denial. Ask for the reason in writing. Federal nursing facility requirements are outlined at Medicaid.gov nursing facilities.
Does Mom’s house automatically disqualify her?
Not automatically. The home is often excluded while she lives there or intends to return, up to a federal home equity limit. Your state applies its own figure within that range. Confirm the current amount with your state Medicaid office before assuming anything.
Will the state take the house later?
States are required to seek recovery from the estates of people 55 and older who received nursing facility services. Recovery is barred while a surviving spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child survives. Hardship waivers exist. See Medicaid.gov estate recovery.
What if we already gave money away?
Disclose it on the application. Hiding it causes bigger problems than reporting it. A transfer in the look-back may produce a penalty period measured in months, not a permanent bar. The state calculates that period, and the notice must explain how.
So can a nursing home take your savings or not?
No. A facility bills for care; it has no power to seize an account. What happens is that Medicaid will not pay while countable resources are above the state’s limit, so the resident pays privately until they are under it. The spouse’s protected share, the home, and the exempt items never go to the facility at all.
Key Takeaways
- The state decides, not the facility. Whatever a billing office says, the answer to “can a nursing home take your savings” is decided by the Medicaid agency, on paper, with appeal rights.
- The facility takes nothing. Medicaid declines to pay above the limit; the resident pays privately until under it. No account is seized.
- The spouse at home is protected. Federal law carves out $32,532 to $162,660 in 2026, plus the house, before anything is counted.
- Gifts count for five years. The look-back reaches back 60 months, and transfers inside it become months of no coverage.
- File anyway. Only a written state notice creates a decision date and appeal rights.
- Your state guide is the anchor. The asset limit, income cap and penalty divisor for your state are on its page, dated and sourced.
Where to Get Free Help
Nobody has to work out “can a nursing home take your savings” alone or pay anyone to start. The Eldercare Locator at eldercare.acl.gov connects you to your county’s Area Agency on Aging, legal aid handles Medicaid questions at no charge, and your state’s guide on this site has the current figures and the office that decides.
Official Sources & Resources
- Medicaid.gov — eligibility: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/eligibility/index.html
- Eldercare Locator (ACL): https://eldercare.acl.gov
- Medicare.gov: https://www.medicare.gov
- CMS.gov: https://www.cms.gov
- Find your SHIP counselor: https://www.medicare.gov/talk-to-someone
Checked against the official sources above in September 2026. Rules and dollar figures change; if a notice you received disagrees with this page, the notice wins — and please tell us. General information, not legal, financial or medical advice.