Medicaid for nursing home and home care in Wyoming

Who qualifies

You must be a Wyoming resident and a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for at least five years. You must also be 65 or older, blind, or disabled.

Medical need. A public health nurse does an assessment (called the LT101 for adults) to show you need nursing-home-level care. If the assessment is more than a year old, a new one is needed.

The 30-day rule. For nursing home Medicaid, you must have been in a nursing home or hospital for 30 days in a row, or be getting SSI.

If your income is over the limit: income trusts

If your countable income is above $2,982, you can still qualify by putting income into an income trust (often called a Miller trust or qualified income trust). The state gives you an Income Trust Packet. Each month, the income that goes into the trust is used under the state's rules, and in a home care waiver the trust can pay you up to the income limit for your living costs. Ask the Long-Term Care Eligibility Unit for the packet before you apply.

What counts and what does not

• Countable assets are figured by their equity value: what they are worth minus what you still owe.
• A spouse's assets count for the other spouse until the month after you divorce or stop living together.
• Long-term care partnership insurance: If you have a Qualified Long Term Care Insurance Partnership policy, assets up to the amount it has paid out can be disregarded.
• Your home: Federal rules set a home equity limit for long-term care Medicaid of at least $752,000 in 2026. Ask the Long-Term Care Eligibility Unit how your home and car are counted.
• Sale money counts. If you sell something, even an asset that was not counted, the money you get is counted.

What you pay each month (patient contribution)

In a nursing home, you pay most of your income to the nursing home. This is your patient contribution. Before it is figured, these amounts come off your income:

• $50 a month for personal needs.
• A monthly allowance for your spouse at home, if you are married.
• An allowance for a dependent child.
• Health insurance premiums, and the Medicare premium for the first two months.
• Medical bills that Medicaid, Medicare and other insurance do not pay.
• Court-ordered child support.

If you qualify when you enter the nursing home, you do not pay a contribution in your first month. Payments start the first full month after 30 days in the home.

Protections for a spouse at home

• Assets: The spouse at home keeps a share of the couple's assets. Under federal rules for 2026, that share is at least $32,532 and no more than $162,660. The rest must be at or below $2,000.
• Free assessment: Either spouse can ask the state to add up the couple's assets, even before applying.
• Moving assets: After approval, the spouse in care must move their extra countable assets to the spouse at home before the first review.
• Income: The spouse at home can get part of the other spouse's income each month. The amount can go up if the spouse at home faces exceptional financial hardship.

Care at home: Community Choices Waiver

The Community Choices Waiver (CCW) pays for services in your home or community instead of a nursing home. It is for people 65 and older, or 19 to 64 with a disability, who meet the nursing home income, asset and medical rules. Call the Home and Community-Based Services Section at 1-800-510-0280.

If you do not qualify for Medicaid, Wyoming Home Services is a state program for people 60 and older at risk of going into a nursing home. You pay on a sliding scale. Call the Aging Division at (800) 442-2766. Wyoming has no PACE program.

Giving away money or property

Assets cannot be given away or sold for less than they are worth during the look-back period before you apply. If they are, Medicaid will not pay the nursing home for a penalty period, but it can still pay for other care. Some transfers are allowed, such as:

• Moving your home to your spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child.
• Moving your home to a brother or sister who owns part of it and lived there at least a year before you went into care.
• Moving your home to a son or daughter who lived with you and cared for you for at least two years before you went into care.
• Moving other assets to your spouse, or to a blind or disabled child.
• Putting money into an approved special needs, pooled or income trust.

How to apply, step by step

1. Get the forms. Apply online at wesystem.wyo.gov, call 1-855-294-2127 (TTY 1-855-329-5204), or print the paper application at health.wyo.gov/healthcarefin/apply. The state also offers a Long Term Care Eligibility Checklist.
2. If you get SSI, you do not need a separate application for nursing home Medicaid.
3. Ask for the medical assessment. A public health nurse checks your care needs.
4. Send proof of income, assets and any transfers. If your income is over the limit, set up the income trust.
5. Ask about past bills. Medicaid can pay medical bills from the three months before you applied if you qualified in those months.

After you are approved

• Reviews: Coverage lasts 12 months. You must complete a review every 12 months, unless you get SSI.
• Coverage ends if you leave the nursing home, do not finish your review, or no longer qualify. Report changes in income or assets.
• Estate recovery: After death, Wyoming can claim against your estate for what Medicaid paid. Nothing is taken while your spouse is alive, and recovery waits while you have a child under 21 or a blind or disabled child. Questions: (307) 777-7531.
• If you are denied: Your notice explains how to ask for a fair hearing and the deadline. Act quickly.

Free help

• Long-Term Care Eligibility Unit: 1-855-203-2936.
• Community Choices Waiver: 1-800-510-0280.
• WSHIIP (free Medicare counseling): 1-800-856-4398.
• Aging Division: (800) 442-2766.

More on costs: paying for a nursing home. See all benefits in Wyoming and Medicare.

Phone numbers: Free help lines for Wyoming agencies

Check what you may qualify for