Community Spouse Resource Allowance (2022)

Pursuing an Upwardly Revised Community Spouse Resource Allowance

prepared by Alan Wasserman, current as of May 2022

One of the more powerful tools available for preserving a couple’s assets when one spouse needs long-term care is the ability to seek an upward revision to the community spouse resource allowance (CSRA). When a married person turns to the Medicaid program for help paying for long-term care, the general rule requires the couple to first spend down their assets to their CSRA, which is one-half of the total countable assets the couple had as of the date long- term care started. (For 2022, the maximum CSRA is $137,400, and the minimum CSRA is $27,480. Low asset couples may, therefore, be able to establish Medicaid eligibility with little or no spenddown, whereas the general rule requires high asset couples to spend down at least half of their countable assets.)