Medicaid eligibility for persons in nursing homes

Presented in this article is an overview of Medicaid policies affecting persons in nursing homes and other institutions that provide long-term care—the criteria they must meet to qualify for Medicaid and the costs of care paid by the Medicaid program and by Medicaid recipients themselves. Underlying these complex policies, and creating sometimes peculiar consequences, is the fact that the population served in institutions and the nature of the benefit are different from the Medicaid program in general, although many of the rules affecting eligibility are the same.