The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its Spousal Impoverishment Standards for 2020. As we earlier reported, due to CMS's apparent departure from past rounding practices the 2020 numbers differ somewhat from the earlier and usually quite reliable projections of Pennsylvania ElderLawAnswers member Robert Clofine, who bases his yearly estimates on the consumer price index for urban consumers for September.
The official spousal impoverishment allowances for 2020 are as follows (we include Medicaid's home equity limits, which Clofine did not project):
Minimum Community Spouse Resource Allowance: $25,728
Maximum Community Spouse Resource Allowance: $128,640
Maximum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance: $3,216
The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance for the lower 48 states remains $2,113.75 ($2,641.25 for Alaska and $2,432.50 for Hawaii) until July 1, 2020.
Home Equity Limits:
Minimum: $595,000
Maximum: $893,000
For CMS's complete chart of the 2020 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards, click here.
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