In Delaware, long-term-care Medicaid can pay for nursing-facility care and home and community-based waiver services for a person whose assets and income fit the state's limits. Delaware's manual uses a $2,000 resource limit for an individual, an income standard of 250% of the SSI standard, and a 60-month look-back at transfers.
Most people facing a nursing-home admission in Delaware arrive at this question in the middle of something hard. A mother in Wilmington may have had a fall that ended her ability to live alone, or a husband in Dover may need more care than his wife can give at home. The family is trying to work out whether the savings will run out, what happens to the house, and what the spouse who stays home will have left. This page sets out how Delaware's long-term-care Medicaid rules work, rule by rule.
A note on Delaware-specific details. Several points on this page are set by Delaware's current rules rather than by the figures quoted here. These include the full list of exempt assets, the treatment of the home, when a Miller Trust is used, the current spousal dollar figures, the penalty divisor, where an application is filed, and the exact scope of estate recovery. Where the page does not give a Delaware figure or procedure, that point turns on the state's current rules.
What Medicaid Planning Means for Delaware Families
Medicaid planning is the process of arranging a person's finances and assets, within the rules, so that they can qualify for long-term-care Medicaid while keeping what those rules allow a spouse or family to keep. Federal law sets the framework every state follows, and each state runs its own program with its own rules. Delaware's long-term-care rules appear in the Delaware Social Services Manual published by the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). That manual refers to its Division of Social Services (DSS) and its Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance.
The Delaware manual describes DHSS Long Term Care Services as including nursing facility services, home and community-based waiver services, and community-based long-term care services and supports. The same rules apply statewide, in New Castle County as in Sussex County.
This page covers Medicaid for long-term care only. It does not cover Medicare, private long-term-care insurance or veterans' benefits.
Delaware's Medicaid Asset Rules: Countable and Exempt Assets
A countable asset is any resource Medicaid counts when it decides whether a person is eligible. An exempt asset is a resource Medicaid does not count. The Delaware manual states that, effective January 1, 1989, the SSI resource limit is $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. It also allows an additional $1,500 per individual as a burial exclusion for burial expenses. The 2026 federal SSI chart from CMS also lists a $2,000 resource standard for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, effective January 1, 2026 (CMCS bulletin).
Other assets that may be treated as exempt, such as a vehicle or personal belongings, are among the Delaware-specific points noted above. The home has its own federal limit. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(f), federal law generally bars long-term-care Medicaid coverage for a person whose home equity exceeds a set limit, unless an exception applies. That bar does not apply when a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child (as the statute defines those terms) is lawfully residing in the home. Beyond that federal limit, this page does not set out Delaware's handling of the home.
Income is a separate test from assets. Delaware's manual states that, effective October 1, 1994, the eligibility standard for individuals in nursing facilities and HCBS Waiver programs became 250% of the SSI standard. The 2026 SSI federal benefit rate for an individual is $994.00 a month, effective January 1, 2026. The manual also states that a Miller Trust must be irrevocable; the circumstances in which one is used are not covered here.
Spousal Protections: What the Community Spouse Keeps in Delaware
The community spouse is the husband or wife who stays at home while the other spouse receives nursing-home or other institutional-level care. Federal law at 42 U.S.C. § 1396r-5 sets the spousal-impoverishment framework that states implement. When a couple applies, the law first treats all resources held by either spouse as available to the spouse in care. It then protects a Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA), which is the share of the couple's countable assets the community spouse may keep.
The CSRA is tied to a "spousal share" equal to half of the couple's combined resources. That share is measured at the start of the first continuous period of institutionalization. Federal dollar floors and ceilings apply and are adjusted over time. The Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) is the minimum monthly income the community spouse is allowed to keep. CMS states that the MMMNA is adjusted each July 1, and the maximum resource allowances are adjusted each January (CMCS bulletin). Delaware's current dollar figures are not listed on this page. In general, while one spouse is in the institution, no income of the community spouse is treated as available to the spouse in care.
Delaware's manual addresses a practical problem. If the couple cannot verify their resources at the start of institutionalization, the eligibility worker may calculate the CSRA from resources that can be documented. That point may fall anywhere between admission and application. If the couple cannot document their resources at all, DSS will advise them that it cannot calculate the allowance.
The Look-Back Period and Transfer Penalties in Delaware
The look-back period is the window before an application during which the state reviews gifts and other transfers. The federal look-back is 60 months for any transfer made on or after February 8, 2006, under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(1)(B)(i). Delaware's manual states that, for long-term-care applications filed on or after February 8, 2006 and assets transferred on or after that date, the look-back date is 60 months before the "baseline date." The baseline date is the first date the individual was both institutionalized and had applied for medical assistance. The manual adds that each individual has only one look-back date.
A penalty period is a stretch of time during which a person is ineligible for long-term-care coverage. It applies because assets were transferred for less than fair market value. Under federal law, the number of months equals the total uncompensated value transferred divided by the state's average monthly private-pay cost of nursing-facility care at the time of application, and fractional months may not be rounded down (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(1)(E)). Delaware's current divisor is not stated here.
The penalty starts on the later of two dates: the month of the transfer, or the date the person is eligible and would otherwise be receiving institutional-level care (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(1)(D)(ii)). For that reason, a gift made inside the look-back is penalized the same way however long ago it was made. Not every transfer is penalized. The statute's exceptions include transferring a home's title to the person's spouse (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(2)(A)). Federal law generally imposes no transfer penalty on a transfer to a spouse. Rules differ by state; Rhode Island Medicaid planning is one point of comparison.