As of DHCF's January 2026 published figures, the District counts resources fairly broadly for long-term-care Medicaid — cash, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, trusts, annuities, property, and life insurance can all be in scope. The countable-resource ceiling is $4,000 for a single applicant and $6,000 for a married couple. What's excluded matters just as much: your home's value, one vehicle, and ordinary personal and household goods don't count toward either limit. Whether a specific asset counts often comes down to how it's owned and accessed, so a label alone — 'trust' or 'annuity,' for instance — doesn't settle the question by itself.
Income works on a separate track. DHCF's 2026 Special Income Standard is $2,982 per month, calculated as 300% of the SSI federal benefit rate. For people above that threshold, the Spend Down group applies the same $4,000/$6,000 resource limits but layers in a medically needy income level — $856.90 per month for an individual, or $902 for a household of two or more in 2026. Once you've met that spend-down obligation, District rules give you a six-month period of coverage, which is worth planning around since an income problem and a resource problem are genuinely two different hurdles to clear.