New Jersey’s $50 nursing home personal allowance is a disgrace

Imagine being told you have $1.67 to spend today.

For a haircut. Toothpaste. Deodorant. A pair of socks. A birthday card for a grandchild. A cup of coffee. An occasional snack. Internet access. A phone bill.

That is the reality for about 28,000 New Jersey nursing home residents who rely on Medicaid.

Under current law, nursing home residents on Medicaid in New Jersey are allowed to keep just $50 a month from their Social Security checks, pensions, and other income. The rest goes toward the cost of their care.

Fifty dollars. In New Jersey. In 2026.

Assembly Bill 2691 would raise the personal needs allowance to $140 a month and automatically adjust it in future years based on Social Security cost-of-living increases. The bill deserves swift passage.

This is not a luxury or a handout. It is not extravagant. It’s about dignity.

For the majority of nursing home residents, that monthly allowance is the only money they control. It is what allows them to buy the small items that make life bearable and preserve a sense of identity. The nursing home may provide a bed and basic meals, but it does not provide everything that makes a person a person.

We heard residents testify at a New Jersey Assembly committee hearing last month about needing money for basic necessities. Family members described having to make trips to purchase items that facilities do not provide or do not provide adequately.

No one should have to depend on a child to buy them a tube of toothpaste. No one should have to choose between a haircut and toiletries. And no one should spend the final years of their life asking permission for every small personal need because the state has determined that $50 a month is enough.

More than a dozen nursing home residents have reached out to The Vindicator since the hearing, describing how difficult it is to survive on $50 a month. One resident noted that many of her neighbors spent 30 or 40 years working, paying taxes, and contributing to Social Security and pension systems. Now, after a lifetime of work, nearly all of that income is turned over to cover the cost of their care, leaving them with just $50 a month for personal necessities.

Supporters of the status quo will point to costs. They will note that residents who retain more income contribute less toward their care, shifting some costs to Medicaid. But lawmakers should ask a simple question: If New Jersey cannot afford to allow a nursing home resident to keep an additional $90 a month, what exactly are our priorities?

The question is not whether the state can afford the increase. The question is whether the state can justify denying it.

The Legislature routinely approves subsidies, tax incentives, development projects, and other programs costing millions of dollars. Yet lawmakers have struggled to approve what amounts to roughly three dollars more per day for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Even after the increase, residents would retain only $140 a month. The proposed amount would still require people to budget carefully for basic personal expenses.

The fact that more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. already provide higher allowances than New Jersey should be a source of embarrassment.

This issue is not about politics. It is about whether we believe New Jerseyans living in nursing homes deserve a modest measure of independence and dignity.

The answer should be obvious.

Lawmakers advanced this bill last year and then let it die. They should not make the same mistake again.

A society reveals its values by how it treats those with the least power. New Jersey’s $50 allowance says far too much about ours.

Raise it.