---
type: Authority
title: RSMo §208.151 (MO HealthNet medical assistance eligibility)
description: The Missouri statute defining who is eligible for MO HealthNet, Missouri's Medicaid program, including the aged, blind, and disabled categories that long-term-care coverage runs through.
resource: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=208.151
tags: [medicaid, mo-healthnet, eligibility, long-term-care, missouri]
timestamp: 2026-06-22
jurisdiction: Missouri
author: Patrick Nolan
authority_type: statute
citation: RSMo §208.151
---

# Summary

RSMo §208.151 sets out who qualifies for MO HealthNet medical assistance, which is Missouri's Medicaid program. It includes the categories most relevant to elder law: the aged, the blind, and persons with disabilities. Long-term-care eligibility layers the federal transfer and spousal-impoverishment rules on top of these state categories.

# Operative text

Paraphrased: §208.151 lists the categories of persons eligible for medical assistance and authorizes the Family Support Division to administer eligibility determinations. For nursing-home coverage, an applicant must fit an eligible category and meet the resource and income tests, after applying the federal look-back (42 U.S.C. §1396p) and, for married couples, the spousal-impoverishment protections (42 U.S.C. §1396r-5). Read the full section at the official source linked above.

# Decision rule

If you are evaluating Missouri long-term-care Medicaid, start with the §208.151 eligibility categories, then apply the five-year look-back and the spousal protections before assuming a person does or does not qualify.

# Related

- [MO HealthNet and Long-Term Care](/okf/elder-law-medicaid/medicaid-mo-healthnet.md)
- [The Medicaid Look-Back Period in Missouri](/okf/elder-law-medicaid/look-back-period.md)
- [42 U.S.C. §1396p](/okf/authorities/federal/42-usc-1396p-medicaid.md)
- Official source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=208.151