Unexpected news just came out about the raise to Florida's personal needs allowance from $105/month to $130/month. Both Florida's House and Senate passed the 2018 and 2019 budgets to include this increase to Florida's seniors. This amount was effective as of July 1, 2018.
When a single person is in the nursing home on Medicaid, the recipient must generally pay his or her income to the facility as part of their patient's responsibility. The portion the patient is allowed to keep is his or her personal needs allowance. The personal needs allowance is used to help pay any additional costs the patient may have, such as haircuts, clothing and toiletries. Medicaid pays for all other medical expenses.
When there is a married couple and one spouse is in the nursing home, the rules change somewhat. For instance, if the couple's joint gross income is less than $2,058/month, there is no real personal needs allowance as the community spouse will get to keep all of the institutionalized spouse's income. Read more about Medicaid and income rules for Florida Medicaid recipients here.
The increase to the personal needs allowance is great news for Florida's seniors!
One thing that is not so great news to Florida's seniors is the potential elimination of retroactive long-term care Medicaid benefits. Read more about this potential change on our website.
If you want to learn more about income and Medicaid for Florida, please see this webpage.
