Medicare-Medicaid Pay-Down of Assets
State law and regulations impose income and asset limits on persons applying for Medicaid.
The income limit for the institutional Medicaid program and certain home and community-based waiver programs is determined by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Medicaid & Business Policy. For 2025, the Medicaid resource limit for individuals eligible for the the nursing facility care (NF) program is $2,500 per month. The individual gross monthly income must be less than $2,901.
New Hampshire also offers a State Supplement program which provides financial assistance and/or medical assistance to needy
individuals who meet the definition of one of the following categories:
1. Old Age Assistance (OAA) – 65 years of age or older, or
2. Aid to the Permanently & Totally Disabled (APTD) – physically or mentally disabled and between the ages of 18 & 64, or
3. Aid to Needy Blind (ANB) – blind (no age limit)
Eligibility depends on income, resources, and living arrangement. The monthly income limits for individuals and couples are $901 and $1,500, respectively.
For purposes of the lookback period, a transfer of assets shall be considered to have been made when:
(1) Action is taken that reduces or eliminates an individual’s ownership or control of such assets;
(2) Another person has been given access to the asset through joint ownership and any action is taken, either by the individual or by any other person, that reduces or eliminates such individual’s ownership;
(3) An instrument to transfer title at some future date has been completed by the individual who is applying for or receiving assistance and delivered to the individual who is to receive title;
(4) An individual who is applying for or receiving financial assistance has transferred or transfers title or ownership of an otherwise excluded home to another individual or entity, including a home, which has become income producing;
(5) An individual places assets into an irrevocable trust or similar legal device, including an annuity;
(6) An individual applying for or receiving financial assistance obtains a reverse mortgage, a home equity conversion mortgage, or similar loan on an otherwise excluded home or other real property and transfers the proceeds to another individual;
(7) An individual applying for or receiving financial assistance converts a countable asset; or
(8) An individual is entitled to an asset but does not receive the asset because of action:
a. By the individual or the individual’s spouse;
b. By a person, including a court or administrative body, with legal authority to act in place of or on behalf of the individual or such individual’s spouse; or
c. By any person, including any court or administrative body, acting at the direction or upon the request of the individual or such individual’s spouse.
For an asset to be considered transferred for fair market value or to be considered to be transferred for valuable consideration, the compensation received for the asset shall be in a tangible or otherwise assessable form with intrinsic value. A transfer of assets for love and consideration, or similar reasons, shall not be considered to be a transfer for fair market value. If the individual refuses or fails to prove that assets were not transferred for purposes of qualifying for financial assistance, DHHS shall determine that assets were transferred for the purposes of qualifying for assistance and shall deny financial assistance for 60 months from the date of the transfer.
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Medicaid & Business Policy
Eligibility Fact Sheet
New Hampshire Regs Part He-W 620