Georgia Medicaid + Pathways Income Limits 2026

Key takeaways

• Qualify for Georgia Pathways Medicaid at up to 100% FPL ($1,330/month single in 2026) only if you report at least 80 work/activity hours every month.
• Report your 80 monthly hours through Georgia Gateway each month, because coverage can be suspended the month your hours drop below 80.
• Get children covered at up to 210% FPL (age 0-1), 154% FPL (age 1-5), and 138% FPL (age 6-18, $1,835.40/month) with no work requirement.
• Use the long-term-care limit of $2,982/month for nursing home or HCBS care, or $994/month for regular aged/blind/disabled Medicaid.
• Spend down to the Medically Needy limit of $317/month single or $375/month couple if heavy medical bills push you over the regular limits.

Georgia Medicaid income limits 2026: the fast answer

To get Georgia Medicaid as a low-income adult in 2026, you generally need income at or below $1,330 a month for a single person (100% of the federal poverty level) AND you must report at least 80 hours of work or other approved activity each month. That second part is the Georgia Pathways to Coverage rule, and it is the detail most people miss.

Georgia did not do full Medicaid expansion. So unlike the 40 states and Washington, DC that cover all adults up to 138% of the poverty level, Georgia only covers working-age childless adults through Pathways, and only if they keep up the 80-hour activity report. Miss the hours, and coverage stops.

Other groups follow the regular Medicaid rules with no work requirement: parents, kids, pregnant women, and people who are aged, blind, or disabled. The income line is different for each group, which is why a family of four can have one person who qualifies and another who does not.

Georgia Pathways to Coverage: the 80-hour work rule explained

Pathways to Coverage is Georgia's answer to expansion. It opens Medicaid to adults ages 19 to 64 with income up to 100% of the federal poverty level — that is $1,330 a month for one person in 2026 — but only if you report qualifying activity hours every month.

You must report at least 80 hours per month of one or more approved activities. The accepted activities include:

• Working a job (full-time, part-time, or self-employment)
• On-the-job training or a job-readiness program
• Enrollment in higher education or a vocational program
• Vocational rehabilitation
• Community service or volunteer work

Here is the part that trips people up: the hours are not a one-time check at sign-up. You report them every month to keep coverage active. If your hours drop below 80 in a month, Georgia can suspend or end your Pathways coverage. This is the single biggest difference between Georgia and an expansion state, where income alone decides eligibility.

Apply through Georgia Gateway, the state's benefits portal run by the Department of Community Health (DCH). Childless adults who earn over $1,330 a month, or who cannot document 80 hours, do not qualify for Pathways — and Georgia has no other adult Medicaid pathway for them.

Georgia Medicaid income limits by group (2026)

Each group has its own income ceiling, shown as a percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). The 100% FPL line for one person in 2026 is $1,330 a month ($15,960 a year). Children and pregnant women get the most generous limits.

The parent limit is the harsh one. At about 36% of the poverty level, a parent's income has to be quite low to qualify on their own, even though their kids likely qualify at 138% to 210%. That gap is exactly why Pathways exists for adults who fall in between.

What 138% FPL looks like in dollars

The 138% FPL line matters because it is the cutoff for kids age 6 to 18, and it is the line full expansion states use for all adults. For 2026, 138% FPL by household size is:

Aged, blind, or disabled and long-term care limits

People who are aged (65+), blind, or disabled use a different set of rules called non-MAGI. These limits track Supplemental Security Income (SSI), not the poverty level, and they include an asset test that the regular Medicaid groups do not face.

The nursing home and home-and-community-based-services (HCBS) figure of $2,982 a month is set at 300% of the SSI federal benefit rate. It is the income line for people who need long-term care, whether in a facility or through a waiver that pays for care at home. The regular aged, blind, or disabled limit is much lower at $994 a month, the same figure as the 2026 SSI individual benefit rate.

Medically Needy: the spend-down path

Georgia runs a Medically Needy program for people whose income is too high for regular Medicaid but who have heavy medical bills. The income limit is very low — $317 a month for a single person and $375 a month for a couple — but you can still qualify by "spending down."

Spend-down means you subtract your medical bills from your income. Once your remaining income drops to the Medically Needy limit, Medicaid covers the rest for that period. The asset limit here is $2,000 for a single person and $4,000 for a couple.

Who does NOT qualify for Georgia Medicaid

Because Georgia skipped full expansion, the people most likely to be surprised are working-age adults without kids. If you are a childless, non-disabled adult and you cannot report 80 hours of activity a month, there is no Georgia Medicaid path for you — even with very low income.

• A single adult earning over $1,330 a month is over the Pathways limit and does not qualify.
• A single adult under $1,330 a month who cannot document 80 hours of monthly activity does not qualify for Pathways.
• A parent earning above roughly 36% of FPL is over the parent limit, though their children may still qualify up to 138%–210% FPL.
• A childless adult who is not aged, blind, disabled, or pregnant has no fallback Medicaid category outside Pathways.

If you fall in this gap, check the federal marketplace at HealthCare.gov. In a non-expansion state, adults under 100% FPL who do not qualify another way can fall into a "coverage gap" with no affordable option, while those at or above 100% of FPL can often get subsidized marketplace plans instead. That 100% FPL line — $1,330 a month for one person in 2026 — is the dividing line between the gap and marketplace help.