How Medicaid Can Help Pay for Long-Term Care in Florida

Q: What happened to Florida's old Medicaid waivers like the Alzheimer's Disease Waiver?

They were discontinued and merged into a single program: Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care (SMMC-LTC). Most of the same services carried over under the new managed-care model.

Q: What's the asset limit for Florida's MEDS-AD program?

$5,000 for a single applicant — different from the $2,000 limit used by SMMC-LTC and nursing home Medicaid. This is a common point of confusion, since several other guides incorrectly list it as $2,000 too.

Q: Does VA Aid & Attendance affect my Florida Medicaid eligibility?

No — the VA Aid & Attendance benefit (above the basic VA pension) does not count toward Florida's Medicaid income limit, which means you may be able to receive both.

Published August 28, 2026 How we keep this accurate

This page is Florida-specific. Medicaid long-term care rules vary significantly by state. See our national Medicaid Waivers Explained guide if you're elsewhere.

If you're looking for an old waiver by name, it's been replaced

If you've heard of Florida's Alzheimer's Disease Waiver, Nursing Home Diversion Waiver, Assisted Living for the Elderly (ALE) Waiver, or Consumer Directed Care Plus (CDC+) Waiver — all of these have been discontinued. They were merged into a single program: Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care (SMMC-LTC). Most of the same services carried over, delivered now through managed care organizations rather than separate waiver programs.

Two programs, two different asset limits — this trips people up

Florida runs two distinct long-term-care-adjacent Medicaid pathways with genuinely different financial rules, and this is a real source of confusion online:

	SMMC-LTC (+ Nursing Home)	MEDS-AD (Regular Medicaid)
2026 asset limit (single)	$2,000	$5,000
2026 income limit	$2,982/month	Lower, income-based test
Look-back period	60 months	None
Entitlement?	No — waitlists exist in many regions	Yes

Note: several other guides incorrectly list MEDS-AD's asset limit as $2,000 — it's actually $5,000. Source: Florida DCF, AHCA program guidance; figures effective 2026.

VA Aid & Attendance doesn't count against you here. The VA Aid & Attendance benefit (above the basic VA pension) does not count toward Florida's Medicaid income limit — meaning many veterans and surviving spouses can receive both. See VA Aid & Attendance if you haven't checked this yet.

The 2026 numbers for SMMC-LTC

Income limit: $2,982/month gross, before deductions — this is your income before anything is taken out, not what actually lands in your account.

Asset limit: $2,000 single, $3,000 if both spouses are applying. A non-applicant spouse can keep significantly more — up to $162,660 — through the Community Spouse Resource Allowance.

Spousal income protection: up to $4,067/month for the community spouse, depending on their housing and utility costs.

Florida is an income-cap state — the QIT applies here too

If your gross monthly income exceeds $2,982, you cannot qualify for SMMC-LTC or nursing home Medicaid regardless of medical expenses — Florida doesn't offer income spend-down. A Qualified Income Trust (QIT), also called a Miller Trust, needs to be funded and in place before eligibility begins. Even being over the limit by $50-100 requires this step; there's no smaller exception.

How to actually start

Call the Elder Helpline at 1-800-963-5337 or apply through MyACCESS at myflfamilies.com — confirm whether SMMC-LTC or MEDS-AD actually fits your financial situation before assuming which one applies.

If your income is close to or over $2,982/month, ask about setting up a Qualified Income Trust before applying — see Questions to Ask an Elder Law Attorney to find someone who sets these up correctly, since Florida requires the state be named remainder beneficiary.

Common Questions

What happened to Florida's old Medicaid waivers like the Alzheimer's Disease Waiver?

Discontinued and merged into Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care (SMMC-LTC), which delivers most of the same services through managed care.

What's the asset limit for Florida's MEDS-AD program?

$5,000 for a single applicant — different from SMMC-LTC's $2,000, and often misreported elsewhere.

Does VA Aid & Attendance affect my Florida Medicaid eligibility?

No — it doesn't count toward Florida's Medicaid income limit, so you may qualify for both.