Plan for Georgia Medicaid Before the Lookback Clock Starts

Georgia Medicaid long-term care benefits require meeting three tests. The functional test requires a level of care assessment confirming need for skilled nursing facility placement. The asset test requires countable assets of $2,000 or less for an individual, or up to $154,140 for the community spouse of a couple (2025 figure). The income test requires that monthly income falls within Medicaid’s allowable limits — Georgia uses an income cap, and an applicant whose income exceeds it can qualify through a Qualified Income Trust (Miller trust). All three tests must be met simultaneously at the time of application for benefits to begin.

Georgia Medicaid counts all assets you own and can access — called countable assets. Countable assets include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, most retirement accounts (IRAs and 401(k)s), investment real estate, and cash value life insurance above $1,500. Exempt assets include the primary residence while the applicant or community spouse lives in it, one vehicle, personal property and household goods, irrevocable prepaid burial arrangements, and term life insurance with no cash value. Assets held in a properly funded Medicaid asset protection trust that has passed the five-year lookback are also not counted.

Georgia uses an income cap for nursing home Medicaid eligibility. In 2025, the income limit is $2,901 per month (300% of the SSI federal benefit rate). If your gross monthly income exceeds that amount, you can still qualify by establishing a Qualified Income Trust (QIT), also called a Miller trust — an irrevocable trust that receives your excess income each month, allowing the remainder to be applied to your share of the nursing home cost. An attorney must draft and establish the QIT before your Medicaid application is submitted. It cannot be created retroactively after benefits are denied.

Yes, but only if those transfers were completed more than five years before your Medicaid application. Georgia Medicaid applies a 60-month lookback to all asset transfers made for less than fair market value. Gifts to children within that window create a penalty period — months during which Medicaid will not pay for care — calculated based on the amount given and the average monthly nursing home cost. There are some exempt transfers: to a blind or disabled child, to a caregiver child who lived with you, or under specific circumstances. Gifts made outside the lookback window carry no penalty. This is why the timing of transfers is the most critical variable in Medicaid asset planning.

Georgia Medicaid long-term care applications are submitted through the Georgia Department of Community Health or through the nursing facility’s social worker. The application requires documentation of identity, citizenship, income sources, asset documentation (bank statements, investment statements, property records for the past five years), and a level of care determination. The application review period takes 45 days. During that period, Medicaid reviews five years of financial records for disqualifying transfers. We assist with application preparation, document gathering, and asset verification — and coordinate the legal documents your agent needs to manage the process on your behalf.