Start by contacting your county human services agency (Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, or Washington County) or calling the Senior LinkAge Line at 1-800-333-2433 to request a MnCHOICES long-term-care needs assessment, which determines functional eligibility, alongside a separate financial application for Medical Assistance.
The detail behind the program
The application process has two tracks that run somewhat in parallel: a functional assessment (MnCHOICES) that determines whether someone needs a nursing-facility level of care, and a financial eligibility review that checks income and assets against Minnesota's Medical Assistance limits. Senior LinkAge Line, run by Trellis under contract with the Minnesota Board on Aging, is the free starting point most Twin Cities families use because it can walk through both tracks and make the right referral rather than leaving a family to guess which county office or state form to start with. Because Minnesota's long-term-care Medical Assistance uses a spend-down model rather than a hard income cutoff, it's worth starting this process even if a family assumes their parent's income is 'too high' to qualify.
Related questions
- What is the Elderly Waiver and what does it cover?
- What is Alternative Care and how is it different from the Elderly Waiver?
- Does Medicaid pay for the full cost of assisted living in Minnesota?
- What are Minnesota's income and asset limits for nursing home Medical Assistance in 2026?
- How much can a healthy spouse keep if their partner needs Medicaid-covered nursing home care in Minnesota?
- What is Minnesota's Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program, and can the state take my parent's house?
- What is Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO) and who qualifies?