Indiana Medicaid Wait Lists: What to Tell Your Clients

Not everything counts as an available asset

Indiana limits a single applicant to $2,000 in countable resources in 2026. The limit applies to countable resources, not to everything a client owns. A short list of what is commonly not counted:

• The primary home, up to a home-equity limit ($752,000 in 2026). The limit does not apply when a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child lives there.
• One vehicle, household goods and personal belongings.
• Funeral Trust.
• A share for the spouse at home. The community spouse can generally keep half of the couple’s countable resources, between $32,532 and $162,660 in 2026.
• Income above the monthly cap ($2,982 in 2026) can often be managed with a qualified income trust, without moving assets.
• IRAs in RMD status. While Indiana changed the rule to make IRAs part of the joint asset calculation, when in RMD status, they become income, are not a direct countable resource.

Some proactive information to share with clients before the “free dinner”

You haven’t talked to most of your clients about Medicaid Planning because they don’t want that level of care, probably ever, and that Medicaid isn’t something they need or would easily qualify for.

What I tell my clients who want to talk about long-term care/nursing home concerns:

• Your financial advisor has better tools to plan for LTC expenses if or when they occur.
• It’s hard to plan for Medicaid too far in advance because it keeps changing and may not be there at all at some point.
• Unless there is a foreseeable need coming, enjoy your time, life, and family. Spending money for legitimate purchases are not disqualifying in a future Medicaid application, it becomes necessary.

Questions your client should clarify before acting on an attorney’s recommendation:

1. What is the total cost, including the tax effect of any withdrawals and fees for annuities?
2. Is the fee a flat amount for defined work, what is it based on, and what does it include?
3. How would I pay for private pay care if I am on a waiver wait list or choose non-Medicaid residential options?
4. What happens to this plan if Medicaid rules change?
5. Will my financial advisor be part of the conversation before anything is moved?

When to call us

Call before assets move. Most of these decisions are hard to undo, and the tax cost is usually set in the year of the withdrawal. Reach out when a client:

• Has been quoted $10,000 or more for asset-protection planning or told they must act quickly.
• Is advised to make large IRA or other deferred-account withdrawals to “protect” assets.
• Is considering a Medicaid-compliant annuity, especially one with fees paid up front.
• Has a parent in assisted living or receiving home care, and the family is working out how to pay while on a waiver wait list.
• Faces a sudden care need, such as a hospital discharge, a rehab stay or a nursing home admission, with no plan in place.
• Is married and one spouse needs care, and the family wants to understand what the spouse at home can keep.
• Is thinking about gifting assets or retitling them to children. The five-year look-back applies. On retitled assets, the future tax consequences are rarely understood, e.g. future capital gains due to lost step-up, loss of homestead deduction on real estate.
• Wants a second opinion on a plan someone else has proposed.
• Is building a long-term care funding strategy and needs the legal side coordinated with it.

This brief is general information for financial professionals. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every client situation has details that change the answer.

Sources

Figures as of October 19, 2026.

• Indiana Long Term Care Insurance Program, Medicaid Assets & Income
• Indiana Medicaid Eligibility: 2026 Income and Asset Limits (American Council on Aging)