The test varies from state to state. But in most states, if your income is less than the private-pay rate, you can be eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid pays the difference between your income and the Medicaid rates. Federal rules offer some protection for spouses who are still at home. Those numbers change annually.
States can increase the minimum amount.
If they occur sooner, Medicaid may not pay for a certain period, and those assets may go to the nursing home anyway. Transferring assets, while legal, turns a program for the poor into a subsidy for the nonpoor. Medical requirements, which are set by federal law, are the second. The medical requirements vary by state. As a way to thin the ranks of people eligible for benefits, some states are tightening the medical criteria in ways that disqualify many people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other kinds of dementia, but who are otherwise in good physical condition.