Kentucky Medicaid Income Limits 2026: KCHIP and Adults

For how Kentucky compares with other states, see our national Medicaid income limits guide.

Kentucky Medicaid Income Limits by Household Size (April 2026 Chart)

Kentucky's Medicaid table shows 4 income columns, and all of them took effect April 1, 2026. Unlike some states' charts, these already include the 5% disregard, so they're the real cutoffs.

Source: Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, Federal Poverty Level chart, 2026 Medicaid Table (April 2026 ongoing) (opens in a new tab). The chart's notes say the starred columns are FPL plus the 5% disregard and that the 218% column is for children and pregnant women who are uninsured. Column groupings come from DCBS manual sections MS 1070 and MS 2910.

Parents don't need their own column. Kentucky still keeps a separate parent and caretaker scale, but it's tiny ($422 a month for a family of three with the disregard), and DCBS automatically checks parents who are over it against the 138% adult line. In practice, a Kentucky parent qualifies up to the adult figure.

The groups behind each column

DCBS manual section MS 1070 lists each category's poverty percentage before and after the 5% disregard:

Source: DCBS Operation Manual Volume IVB, MS 1070 and MS 2910 (opens in a new tab), with MAGI limits effective April 1, 2026.

Medicaid.gov's state eligibility table (opens in a new tab), which reflects decisions as of December 1, 2023, shows Kentucky at 213% for children of every age, 195% for pregnancy under Medicaid and 213% under CHIP, 19% for parents (a dollar standard converted to a percentage) and 133% for expansion adults. Those are the base percentages above without the 5% disregard.

How Kentucky Counts Your Income for Medicaid

3 to 12 months of recent income is what Kentucky Medicaid looks at to judge what's "reflective going forward," according to the KHBE MAGI fact sheet, and it measures that income month by month using MAGI rules (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) for children, pregnant women, parents and adults.

What counts and what doesn't:

• Start from gross income. Pay before taxes, minus the deductions on your tax return.
• Added back in: non-taxable Social Security benefits, including SSDI, plus tax-exempt interest and foreign earned income, per the KHBE fact sheet.
• Subtracted: IRA and HSA contributions, student loan interest and educator expenses. Child support you pay, mortgage interest and child care costs don't come off.
• Self-employment: you can subtract the same business expenses allowed on Schedule C.
• No asset test for MAGI groups. The KHBE Medicaid and KCHIP fact sheet says resources aren't counted for individuals, families and children; only aged, blind and disabled cases have an asset test.
• The unborn baby counts. DCBS manual MS 2910 says the Medicaid household includes any unborn children of a pregnant woman, matching the federal rule at 42 CFR 435.603 (opens in a new tab).
• The disregard is automatic. Kentucky's Worker Portal adds the 5% only if your income is over the base limit, and it never applies to Marketplace tax credits.

Kentucky Medicaid for Seniors, Blind and Disabled People: Income and Asset Limits

Kentucky's community Medicaid for older and disabled adults who don't get SSI uses a $235 a month income scale for one person, so most people get there through SSI, a spend-down or long-term care rules instead. Per the DCBS Operation Manual Volume IVA, the 2026 standards are:

Sources: DCBS Operation Manual Volume IVA (opens in a new tab), MS 1860 (resource limits), MS 2180 (MA scale), MS 3920 (Medicaid Works, effective April 1, 2026), MS 4450 (MSP resources, revised March 9, 2026) and the Medicare Savings Program income scale effective April 1, 2026, which includes the $20 general income exclusion. The SSI resource limit is the federal SSI standard.

Long-term care numbers DCBS uses in 2026:

• Special income standard: $2,982 a month (effective January 1, 2026). Above that, Kentucky's manual refers to a Qualifying Income Trust.
• Personal needs allowance: $60 a month in a nursing facility or institutional hospice; $3,002 for someone on waiver services at home.
• Spouse at home, resources: a community spouse can keep between $32,532 and $162,660 (effective January 1, 2026).
• Spouse at home, income: a minimum of $2,705 a month (effective July 1, 2026), up to $4,066.50.
• Look-back: transfers within 60 months of the application are reviewed.

For more on SSI, see our SSI income limits guide and SSI benefits guide.

Kentucky Medicaid Expansion and the 2027 Work Rule

Kentucky is one of 41 states including DC that have adopted Medicaid expansion, according to KFF's tracker dated October 16, 2026 (a non-government compilation). That's why a single Kentucky adult earning up to $1,836 a month qualifies, while the same adult in Tennessee to the south usually gets nothing.

Two federal changes from the 2025 reconciliation law land on Kentucky's expansion adults, and Kentucky's own 2026 law (HB 2, 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 179, vetoed in part and overridden on April 14, 2026) tells the state not to seek any delay:

How the work rule works in Kentucky

Kynect's page and the state's July 2026 sample letter spell it out:

• 80 hours a month of work, job training, volunteering or part-time school, in any combination, or half-time school or more, or $580 a month in earnings (or a $580 six-month average for seasonal work).
• New applicants must show it for the month before they apply. Current members must show it for at least 3 of the 6 months before renewal; a February 2027 renewal looks back to August 2026.
• Exempt: people 18 or younger or 65 or older; pregnant or postpartum women; parents or caregivers of a child 13 or younger or of a disabled person; people who are medically frail or have a disability, mental health condition or substance use disorder; veterans with a total disability rating; people on SSI or SSDI; people on Medicare; tribal members; former foster youth under 26; people meeting TANF or SNAP work rules; people in treatment programs; and people recently released from incarceration.
• If Kentucky can't confirm it, you get a noncompliance notice and 30 days to respond, and current members keep coverage during those 30 days.
• Notices started July 1, 2026. Kentucky began mailing outreach letters to affected members then; the sample letter says no action is needed until Kentucky sends more information before each member's 2027 renewal.

The federal rule behind all of this, published in the Federal Register on June 3, 2026 (opens in a new tab), requires states to start no later than January 1, 2027.

Noncitizen changes from October 1, 2026

Kynect's page says Medicaid now covers lawful permanent residents after the five-year wait (unless exempt from it), Cuban-Haitian entrants, COFA migrants, and lawfully present children and pregnant women regardless of status. Refugees, asylees, people paroled for a year or more, conditional entrants and several other groups no longer qualify for full Medicaid, though time-limited emergency Medicaid remains. This follows CMS letter SHO #26-001 (opens in a new tab) of April 8, 2026.

Is expansion at risk? Grantsights didn't find a Kentucky law that ends expansion automatically, and HB 2 keeps the 138% group in place while adding the federal rules.

Worked Examples: Kentucky Households in 2026

For example, a family of three in Lexington earning $3,300 a month (a single dad with uninsured kids aged 4 and 12) gets this on the April 2026 chart:

1. Dad: the adult limit for three is $3,142. Specifically, he's $158 over, so he doesn't get Medicaid. At about 145% of poverty he qualifies for a Marketplace plan with a premium tax credit and the strongest cost-sharing level.
2. The 4-year-old: the ages 1 to 5 limit is $3,347, so she's on Medicaid with $47 to spare.
3. The 12-year-old: regular Medicaid for ages 6 to 18 stops at 109% of poverty (about $2,482 for three, a Grantsights calculation), but because he's uninsured, KCHIP covers him up to $3,347 at 147%, and up to $4,964 at 218%.

A single adult in Bowling Green earning $1,700 a month at a warehouse is $136 under the $1,836 adult limit, so she qualifies. At her next renewal in 2027, her paychecks show more than $580 a month, which meets the work rule without any extra hours to report.

An uninsured pregnant woman in Louisville living with her partner, who isn't the father and doesn't share her tax household, counts as two people: herself and the baby. On $3,800 a month, she's over the $3,607 pregnancy line but under the $3,932 line for uninsured pregnant women, so she still qualifies, with 12 months of postpartum coverage.

One retiree in Paducah, aged 70, gets $1,200 a month in Social Security and has $1,500 in the bank. She's far over the $235 community scale, so full Medicaid at home would mean a spend-down. But she's under $1,350, so QMB pays her Medicare premiums, deductibles and coinsurance. If she enters a nursing home, she's under both the $2,982 income limit and the $2,000 asset limit; she'd keep $60 a month, and most of the rest would go toward her care.

What CHFS Doesn't Tell You About These Limits

Grantsights analysis of the KHBE April 2026 chart and DCBS Volumes IVA and IVB found 5 things the consumer chart doesn't make obvious:

1. Insurance changes a school-age child's limit. A 6- to 18-year-old with other coverage can get Medicaid only up to 109% of poverty, with no disregard. An uninsured child of the same age qualifies up to 218%. For a family of three, that's about $2,482 versus $4,964, double the room.
2. The $580 earnings test is 80 hours at the federal minimum wage. Eighty hours at $7.25 an hour is exactly $580. Anyone working a steady half-time job at minimum wage or more meets the rule on pay alone.
3. The senior scale is about 18% of poverty. The $235 non-SSI scale for one person is 17.7% of the $1,330 poverty line. An older Kentuckian above SSI usually needs QMB, SLMB, a spend-down or long-term care rules, not regular Medicaid at home.
4. The yearly column isn't the HHS figure. The KHBE chart multiplies its monthly limits by 12, so its yearly 100% figure for two is $21,648 while HHS publishes $21,640. Kentucky decides eligibility month by month, so the monthly number is the one that counts.
5. Pregnant women have three different lines. A woman already on adult Medicaid stays at 138%, the regular pregnancy line is 200%, and an uninsured pregnant woman can go to 218%.

Common Mistakes and Red Flags

A common mistake is assuming a parent's employer insurance helps a child qualify. Honest answer: for KCHIP it's the reverse, so it's worth comparing what you pay for family coverage against what free KCHIP would cover. It does the opposite for kids 6 to 18: other coverage drops them from the 218% KCHIP line to the 109% Medicaid line.

Other errors Kentucky applicants make:

• Reading net pay against the chart. Kentucky compares gross monthly income.
• Leaving the unborn baby out. A pregnant woman alone is a household of two, with a $3,607 limit instead of $2,660.
• Applying the senior asset test to adults. Expansion adults, children and pregnant women have no asset test.
• Ignoring the 2027 renewal date. Under the work rule, the months before renewal are what count. Check your renewal date in kynect benefits now.
• Underestimating how fast notices move. The work rule gives 30 days to answer a noncompliance notice, and a Medicaid appeal must be filed within 30 days of the notice date.
• Skipping the exemptions. A parent of a child 13 or younger or someone with a disability doesn't have to log hours, but has to tell Kentucky at renewal.

Red flags for scams: applying for Kentucky Medicaid or KCHIP is free, and so is help from a kynector. Anyone who charges to apply, promises approval, or asks for your kynect login by text isn't the state. Real help comes from kynect at 1-855-459-6328, DCBS at 1-855-306-8959, or a kynector listed under "Get Local Help" on the kynect site.

How to Apply for Kentucky Medicaid or KCHIP and How Long It Takes

30 days is DCBS's processing standard for MAGI applications, under manual section MS 1320, and it includes the time you have to send back requested proof.

1. Apply online at kynect.ky.gov, which screens for Medicaid, KCHIP and Marketplace help on one application.
2. By phone or in person: call kynect at 1-855-459-6328 or DCBS at 1-855-306-8959, visit a local DCBS office, or meet a kynector.
3. Have ready: pay stubs or other proof of income, Social Security numbers, immigration documents if they apply, and information on any health insurance (this decides KCHIP).
4. Ask about the past 3 months. Kentucky can cover the three months before the application month if you'd have qualified and had medical bills, per MS 1600.
5. Pregnant? Presumptive eligibility can cover prenatal care for up to 60 days while Kentucky decides, per the KHBE MAGI fact sheet.
6. Choose a health plan. Most members are enrolled in a managed care plan; DCBS notes that the choice of plan isn't itself grounds for a fair hearing.

What to Do If You're Denied

You have 30 days from the notice of denial, discontinuance or higher patient liability to request a hearing, under 907 KAR 1:560 (opens in a new tab). The hearing agency can grant another 30 days for good cause, such as serious illness or a move that delayed your mail.

• Keep coverage during the appeal: request the hearing within 10 days of the advance notice of a cutoff or of a higher patient liability, and Medicaid continues until the final order.
• Timing of the decision: the regulation says no more than 90 days should pass from your request to the hearing officer's recommended order.
• Work-rule decisions are appealable too. Kynect's page says appeal instructions come with each notice of eligibility, and you can also reapply at any time.
• Check the inputs first. Ask which household size, income and insurance status DCBS used; a child marked as insured by mistake can lose the KCHIP line.

If You're Over the Kentucky Medicaid Limit

$1,836 to $5,220 a month is the range where a single Kentucky adult moves from Medicaid to Marketplace tax credits, per the KHBE chart's 400% column. Other routes:

• Marketplace coverage through kynect: Kentucky runs its own exchange. Adults just over 138% get the richest cost-sharing level on a Silver plan.
• KCHIP for your children: uninsured kids qualify up to 218% even when parents are over 138%.
• Medicare: at 65 or after 24 months of Social Security disability, with QMB and SLMB help.
• WIC: for Kentucky households with a pregnancy, a new baby or a child under 5, WIC's line is 185% of poverty; our WIC income limits guide has the chart.
• Food help: see our Kentucky food stamps guide and SNAP income limits guide.
• Aging parents or a disability in the family: start with the help for seniors programs guide or the disability grants for individuals guide.
• Behind the 138% and 218% lines: our federal poverty guidelines guide.
• Neighbors: compare expansion states Ohio and Indiana, or non-expansion Tennessee.

Checking for food, rent or utility help too? Grantsights' free eligibility checker points you to official programs. It doesn't decide Kentucky Medicaid or KCHIP eligibility and doesn't apply for you; DCBS does that.

When These Limits Change Next

Kentucky's poverty-based limits changed on April 1, 2026, per the KHBE chart note that the Medicaid table was updated in March 2026. According to HHS ASPE's 2026 poverty guidelines (opens in a new tab), 100% of poverty is $15,960 for one person and $27,320 for three. Expect the next Medicaid table around April 2027 after HHS releases its 2027 guidelines; Kentucky hasn't posted it yet.

Kentucky's long-term care and SSI-linked figures reset on January 1 instead. The federal SSI rate goes to $1,029 for one person and $1,544 for a couple in January 2027, up from $994 and $1,491, according to SSA's 2027 COLA fact sheet (opens in a new tab). Three times $1,029 would put Kentucky's special income standard at $3,087, a Grantsights calculation; DCBS hadn't posted a 2027 figure when Grantsights checked. The work rule and six-month renewals both start January 1, 2027.

FAQ: Kentucky Medicaid Income Limits

What is the Kentucky Medicaid income limit in 2026?

For adults 19 to 64: $1,836 a month for one person and $3,142 for three, effective April 1, 2026.

Did Kentucky expand Medicaid?

Yes, to 138% of poverty, with a work or community engagement rule starting January 1, 2027.

What is the KCHIP income limit?

218% of poverty for uninsured children: $4,964 a month for three and $5,995 for four.

What is the limit for pregnant women?

200% of poverty, or 218% if uninsured: $3,607 or $3,932 a month for a household of two.

When does the work requirement start?

January 1, 2027 for new applicants and February 2027 renewals for current members.

What is the nursing home income limit?

$2,982 a month in 2026, with a $2,000 asset limit and a $60 personal needs allowance.

What are the asset limits for seniors?

$2,000 for one person and $4,000 for a couple; $9,950 and $14,910 for Medicare Savings Programs.

How long do I have to appeal?

30 days from the notice; 10 days from an advance notice to keep coverage during the appeal.

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Sources

1. Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange: Federal Poverty Level Chart, 2026 Medicaid Table (opens in a new tab), updated March 2026, effective April 1, 2026
2. DCBS Division of Family Support, Operation Manual Volume IVB: MAGI Medicaid, APTC/CSR, and QHP (opens in a new tab) (MS 1070, MS 1320, MS 1600, MS 2910)
3. DCBS Division of Family Support, Operation Manual Volume IVA: Non-MAGI Medicaid (opens in a new tab) (MS 1577, MS 1860, MS 3920, MS 4450 and the allowances and standards section)
4. KHBE: MAGI Medicaid Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab), updated November 24, 2025, and Medicaid and KCHIP Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab)
5. kynect: Changes Coming to Medicaid and Marketplace Coverage (opens in a new tab), MACE How to Meet Requirements Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab) and MACE sample outreach notice (opens in a new tab), dated July 1, 2026
6. 2026 Kentucky Acts Chapter 179 (HB 2) (opens in a new tab), vetoed in part and overridden April 14, 2026
7. 907 KAR 1:560, Medicaid hearings and appeals regarding eligibility (opens in a new tab)
8. Medicaid.gov eligibility levels table (December 2023 data), used here for Kentucky (opens in a new tab), state decisions as of December 1, 2023
9. CMS: SHO #26-001, Implementation of Section 71109 "Alien Medicaid Eligibility" (opens in a new tab), April 8, 2026
10. Federal Register: Medicaid Program; Community Engagement Requirement for Certain Individuals (opens in a new tab), June 3, 2026
11. eCFR: 42 CFR 435.603, Application of modified adjusted gross income (opens in a new tab)
12. HHS ASPE: 2026 Poverty Guidelines (opens in a new tab)
13. SSA: 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab)
14. KFF (non-government compilation): Status of state Medicaid expansion decisions (opens in a new tab), October 16, 2026