Not all of your assets count against you when you apply for Georgia Medicaid nursing home benefits. Georgia Medicaid divides assets into two categories: countable and exempt. Understanding which assets are which determines how much you need to spend before Medicaid will cover your care, and what legal planning can protect.
Exempt Assets in Georgia Medicaid
Exempt assets are not counted toward Medicaid’s asset limit. They include:
Your Primary Home
Your home is exempt from Medicaid’s asset limit if you intend to return to it, your spouse lives there, or a dependent or disabled child lives there. However, the home exemption is limited. There is a cap: in 2026, home equity above $752,000 may count against you. Georgia Medicaid can attempt to recover what it paid for your care from your home after your death through Medicaid Estate Recovery. A home moved into a properly drafted Medicaid Asset Protection Trust more than five years before you apply has stronger protection than a home in a revocable trust. Because you no longer own it, it is generally outside what Georgia can claim after you die. But Georgia’s rules do mention trusts, any right to live in the home that you keep may still count, and no Georgia court has settled the question. No trust is a guarantee.
One Vehicle
One car or truck is fully exempt, regardless of value.
Household Belongings and Personal Property
Furniture, clothing, jewelry, and other personal property in your home are exempt.
Prepaid Irrevocable Burial Arrangements
An irrevocable burial contract is exempt. This includes prepaid funeral expenses and burial plots.
Life Insurance with Low Cash Value
Term life insurance with no cash value is fully exempt. Whole life or universal life policies with a combined face value under $1,500 are exempt. Over $1,500, the cash value counts.
Assets for the Community Spouse
When one spouse is in a nursing home, the at-home spouse (called the community spouse) can keep certain assets. In 2026, the community spouse in Georgia can keep up to $162,660 in countable assets. This is called the Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA).
Countable Assets in Georgia Medicaid
Countable assets include everything not on the exempt list:
- Checking and savings accounts
- Money market accounts and CDs
- Investment and brokerage accounts
- Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
- IRAs and 401(k)s (in most cases)
- Additional vehicles
- Rental property and vacation homes
- Cash value of life insurance over the threshold
For a single person, countable assets must be reduced to $2,000 before Medicaid eligibility begins.
Retirement Accounts and Medicaid
An IRA or 401(k) counts toward the asset limit at the amount you could withdraw today, after any early-withdrawal penalty. The exception is when you receive regular payments that include part of the principal. Then the account itself is not counted, and those payments count as income. Taking required minimum distributions does not by itself settle this.
Retirement account planning is one of the more nuanced areas of Medicaid eligibility. It is worth discussing with an elder law attorney before assuming your retirement accounts are protected or countable.
Can You Protect Assets Through Planning?
Yes, within limits. Planning can turn countable assets into exempt ones. It can also move them into a trust, which has its own five-year rule.
Common strategies include:
- Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT): Moves countable assets into an irrevocable trust, so you no longer own them. Once they have been in the trust for more than five years before you apply, Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal toward its asset limit. Income the trust pays you counts as your income.
- Exempt asset repositioning: Paying off your mortgage, making home improvements, or purchasing an exempt vehicle using countable funds. All of these are legal within limits.
- Spousal planning: Maximizing what the community spouse keeps through annuities or other strategies.
What About Gifts to Children?
Gifting assets to children before applying for Medicaid is not a safe strategy without guidance. The five-year lookback means any gift made within five years of your Medicaid application can be penalized. Even gifts that seemed reasonable at the time can trigger a period of ineligibility.
If you want to protect assets for your children, talk with an elder law attorney before you move anything. Assets you move into a trust face the same five-year lookback as a gift. No trust is a guarantee.
The Hive Law helps Georgia families understand their asset exposure and build a legal plan that protects as much as possible. If you want to know where you stand, start with a Free Strategy Call.
