Health First Colorado and long-term care in 2026

Who qualifies for Health First Colorado long-term care in 2026?

A person who meets nursing facility level of care and whose countable income is at or below $2,982 a month (300% of the $994 SSI rate) with countable resources at or below $2,000, or who uses a Miller trust when income is higher.

Source: Colorado Medical Assistance and Long-Term Care Income and Resource Limits, January 2026 (training.colorado.gov).

The home is usually exempt while the applicant or a spouse lives there or intends to return, up to the home equity limit. Colorado looks back five years at gifts and transfers; giving money to children shortly before applying can create a penalty period with no coverage.

How are spouses protected when one needs nursing home care in Colorado?

The spouse who stays home keeps up to $162,660 in countable resources in 2026 (the community spouse resource allowance) and can receive part of the applicant's income to bring the at-home spouse's income up to a monthly allowance between $2,643.75 and $4,066.50.

Those spousal rules make Medicaid planning worth an hour with an elder law attorney before assets are spent down in a panic. Couples in the Pikes Peak region often hold most of their wealth in a paid-off home and military or civil service pensions; how each is treated depends on whose name it is in.

Where do Colorado Springs families apply for long-term care Medicaid?

Apply online through Colorado PEAK or through the county department of human services (El Paso County's for Colorado Springs, Teller County's for Woodland Park); the functional assessment and waiver enrollment run through The Resource Exchange, the case management agency for El Paso, Park, Pueblo and Teller counties, at 719-380-1100.

The Health First Colorado Member Contact Center is 1-800-221-3943. Applications stall most often on missing bank statements and proof of income, so gather five years of statements early. If the person is in a hospital or rehab, ask the hospital's case manager whether they can start the application.

What does Health First Colorado pay for once someone qualifies?

It pays the nursing home's daily rate minus the resident's own income contribution (the resident keeps a personal needs allowance, listed at $110.36 a month in January 2026), or it pays for waiver services at home, in adult day care or in a certified Alternative Care Facility.

Not every nursing home has a Medicaid bed open, and not every assisted living residence accepts Medicaid. In our directory, ALRs coded ALR/ACF are the ones certified for waiver residents. Ask each nursing home whether a private-pay resident who spends down can stay in the same room when Medicaid takes over.