Medicaid & Nursing Homes
How to Apply for Medicaid Nursing Home Coverage (2026)
Application steps, required documents, level-of-care assessments, and state Medicaid office contacts.
7 min readUpdated 2026-06-19
Applying for Medicaid nursing home coverage typically involves your county human services office, a Medicaid application (online or paper), financial documentation, and a clinical assessment. Processing can take 45–90 days — facilities may accept pending Medicaid in some states.
Documents to gather
- Social Security award letters and pension statements
- Bank and investment account statements (60 months for look-back)
- Property deeds and vehicle titles
- Medicare and insurance cards
- Hospital or physician records supporting level-of-care need
Apply in your state
- Texas
- Florida
- California
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Ohio
- Illinois
- Georgia
- Arizona
- North Carolina
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- Washington
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Colorado
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Missouri
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- North Dakota
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
- District of Columbia
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