The Illinois Medicaid numbers, with their sources.

The facts, in one place.

Six quotable sentences, each from the state's or CMS's 2026 figures. Quote them with the year attached.

1. In 2026, the community spouse of an Illinois nursing home resident may keep $143,172 of the couple's countable resources. Illinois sets its own standard, up from $135,648; the federal range is $32,532 to $162,660.
2. The community spouse maintenance needs allowance is $4,066.50 a month in 2026. Illinois uses the federal maximum; income can be shifted from the resident spouse to bring the community spouse up to it.
3. The home is exempt in 2026 up to $752,000 of equity, the federal minimum. The equity limit does not apply while a spouse or a dependent child lives in the home.
4. An applicant may keep $17,500 in countable resources, one person or a couple, under Illinois's AABD Medical rules.
5. The look-back is 60 months. A transfer for less than fair value inside it produces a penalty period equal to the amount transferred divided by the facility's own monthly private-pay rate, partial months included. Illinois has no statewide divisor for nursing homes.
6. A nursing home resident keeps a personal needs allowance of $60 a month; a supportive living resident, $120.

The figures.

Every figure on this page, with the federal floor and ceiling beside it so you can see where Illinois chose to sit. Effective January 1, 2026, unless a source says otherwise.

How the rules fit together.

Two spouses, two sets of rules. When one spouse needs nursing home care and applies for Medicaid, the couple's countable resources are added up. The spouse at home, the community spouse, keeps up to the resource allowance, $143,172 in 2026. The applicant may keep $17,500. Illinois sets its own allowance rather than adopting the federal maximum, which is why the figure here differs from a national chart.

Income follows a different allowance. The resident's income goes toward the cost of care after a personal needs allowance of $60 a month, and after enough is set aside to bring the community spouse's own income up to $4,066.50 a month. Illinois uses the federal maximum for that allowance.

The home is usually exempt. Equity up to $752,000 is not counted, and the limit itself does not apply while a spouse or a dependent child lives there. Illinois applies the federal minimum figure. Whether the home is later subject to estate recovery is a separate question, and a real one.

Giving things away has a price in months. The state looks back 60 months from the application. Anything transferred for less than fair value in that window is divided by the monthly private-pay rate at the facility where the person lives, and the result, partial months included, is a period during which Medicaid will not pay for the care. The period starts on the later of the transfer or the day the person is in the facility and otherwise eligible, which is what makes it bite. Illinois uses the facility's own rate; there is no statewide divisor for nursing homes.

What this page does not do. It does not determine eligibility, which turns on the exact resources, the exemptions, the exceptions to the transfer rules, and the caseworker's file. It does not cover community-based waiver programs or supportive living beyond the allowance figure, and it does not model estate recovery. It is the numbers and the arithmetic, with their sources. The rest belongs to an elder-law attorney.

Worked examples.

Penalty periods, computed the way the manual says: transfers divided by the facility's monthly rate, partial months included on a 30-day month. All derived; pinned so the arithmetic cannot drift.

Methodology.

Figures for 2026; record reviewed September 4, 2026.

1. Where each figure comes from. The spousal figures are taken from the Illinois Medicaid agency's January notice, which states the old and new standards. The resource and home equity limits are from the Department on Aging's 2026 sheet. The personal needs allowances are from the IDHS manual releases that set them. The federal range is from CMS's December bulletin and its attached chart.
2. A discrepancy, resolved in the open. The Department on Aging's sheet prints $162,660, the federal maximum, under “Spousal Impoverishment Resource Allowance.” The agency that administers Illinois Medicaid, HFS, sets the Illinois standard at $143,172 in its own notice. This page uses the HFS figure and says so.
3. The penalty arithmetic. Uncompensated transfers divided by the monthly private-pay rate at the facility where the person lives, per IDHS PM 07-02-20-d. Fractional months are kept and shown as days on a 30-day month. The calculator asks for the rate because Illinois does not publish a statewide divisor for nursing homes.
4. Consistency checks. The build fails if the Illinois figures fall outside the federal range for the same year, if the prior-year standard is not below the current one, if the look-back is not 60 months, or if any pinned penalty example stops reproducing.
5. Not covered. Eligibility determinations, exempt transfers and hardship exceptions, waiver programs, supportive living rates, estate recovery, and any change after the review date. Educational, not legal advice.

Sources.

1. 1. Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Provider Notice, January 22, 2026 — Prevention of Spousal Impoverishment Standards for 2026. The Illinois community spouse resource standard ($135,648 to $143,172) and maintenance needs allowance ($3,948.50 to $4,066.50), effective January 1, 2026. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
2. 2. Illinois Department on Aging (Senior Health Insurance Program), 2026 Illinois Medicaid Income Standards & Resource Limits. The AABD Medical resource limit ($17,500, one person or two) and the 2026 home equity limit ($752,000). Note: this sheet prints the federal maximum resource figure, not the Illinois standard; see the HFS notice. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
3. 3. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMCS Informational Bulletin, December 9, 2025 — 2026 SSI, Spousal Impoverishment, and MSP Resource Standards (with the 2026 standards chart). The federal 2026 range every state's figures sit inside: community spouse resources $32,532 to $162,660; maintenance allowance $2,643.75 to $4,066.50; home equity $752,000 to $1,130,000. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
4. 4. Illinois Department of Human Services, Manual Release #24.02 — Personal Needs Allowance increase to $60 for LTC nursing home residents (effective January 1, 2024). The $60 monthly personal needs allowance for skilled nursing facility residents. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
5. 5. Illinois Department of Human Services, Policy Manual 15-06-02-b — Personal Needs Allowance and Supportive Living Program Room and Board. The $120 personal needs allowance in a Supportive Living Program setting, and the $60 nursing facility figure. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
6. 6. Illinois Department of Human Services, Policy Manual 07-02-20-d — Penalty Period Due to Non-Allowable Transfers. How the penalty period is computed: the uncompensated amount divided by the person's monthly private-pay cost at the facility where they live, partial months included. Illinois uses the facility's rate, not a statewide divisor. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
7. 7. Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Highlights of New Eligibility Requirements for Long Term Care. The five-year look-back, and when a penalty period begins (the later of the transfer or the date the person is in a facility and otherwise eligible). Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
8. 8. United States Code (Cornell LII), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p — Liens, adjustments and recoveries, and transfers of assets; (c) the 60-month look-back and penalty; (f) the home equity limit. The federal look-back and penalty framework the Illinois rules implement, and the home equity limit with its exception while a spouse or dependent child lives in the home. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.

The estate-tax side of an Illinois family's planning is the Illinois estate tax calculator.

Revision history.

September 4, 2026

First release: the 2026 Illinois spousal impoverishment standards from the HFS January notice, the resource and home equity limits from the Department on Aging sheet, the personal needs allowances from IDHS, the look-back and penalty method from HFS and the IDHS policy manual, and the federal 2026 range from CMS. Noted the Aging sheet's federal-maximum figure against the HFS Illinois standard.

Canonical address: https://consideratecapital.com/tools/illinois-medicaid-long-term-care-figures