Missouri grants
& benefits: circuit breaker refunds, MO HealthNet and blind pensions.

The Property Tax Credit, which Missouri calls the circuit breaker, refunds part of the rent or real estate tax you paid for the year. Renters can get up to $750. Homeowners who occupied the home can get up to $1,100. The amount depends on what you paid and your total household income.

You may qualify if you were 65 or older by December 31, are 100% disabled, are 100% disabled from military service, or are 60 or older and receive Social Security as a surviving spouse. Renting from a facility that pays no property tax rules you out.

For 2025 claims, household income must be $27,200 or less for a single renter or $29,200 for a married couple filing combined. Owners who lived in the home all year have higher caps: $30,000 single or $34,000 married. Social Security, SSI and pensions count as income.

Claims for tax year 2025 had an April 15, 2026 deadline, yet DOR accepts late claims for three years after that date. House Bills 594 and 508 raise the income limits and credit amounts and add yearly inflation updates, starting with 2026 claims.

Adults 19 to 64 without disabilities can get MO HealthNet through the adult expansion group. Since April 1, 2026, its income limit is 133% of the federal poverty level: $21,226 a year for someone living alone or $43,890 for a family of four.

Under the federal law signed July 4, 2025, expansion adults must show 80 monthly hours of work, education or community service starting December 31, 2026. The same date brings renewals every six months for this group instead of once a year.

Two more changes are on the DSS timeline. For applications made on or after January 1, 2027, coverage of past medical bills shrinks from up to three months to one month for expansion adults and two months for other groups. Since October 1, 2026, refugees and asylees are no longer eligible.

Apply online through the DSS portal or by phone at 855-373-9994. Applicants who are 65 or older, blind, disabled, on Social Security, or covered by Medicare or VA care must add a supplemental form. If your income is too high, spend down lets you pay a set amount before coverage starts for the month.

Missouri pays its own cash grants to blind adults, apart from federal SSI. Both programs include MO HealthNet coverage, and the DSS eligibility chart lists the monthly grant at $949. You must be 18 or older, live in Missouri and meet the state definition of blindness.

Supplemental Aid to the Blind is for people who also apply for SSI, and the $949 is reduced by any SSI you receive. The chart sets its income limit at $1,073 a month and its resource limit at $6,220.50 for one person.

Blind Pension, created by state law in 1921, serves people who cannot get SSI or Supplemental Aid to the Blind. Resources can reach $29,999, and the home you live in does not count. You must give up your driver license and cannot live in a public or medical institution.

If you already have MO HealthNet, you only file an addendum by upload, mail, fax or in person. Questions about either grant go to the FSD Blind Service Center at 866-877-8155.

Starting with tax year 2024, Missouri does not tax Social Security benefits for people 62 or older, or Social Security disability benefits, as long as they are part of federal adjusted gross income. Before 2024, income caps limited who got the full deduction.

Public pensions can be subtracted up to the maximum Social Security benefit. The full deduction applies when Missouri adjusted gross income is $85,000 or less for single filers or $100,000 or less for married couples filing combined.

Private pension income has a smaller exemption of up to $6,000, with full value at incomes up to $25,000 single or $32,000 married. Taxable military pensions are subtracted from federal adjusted gross income on Form MO-A.

The Missouri Veterans Commission runs veterans homes in Cameron, Cape Girardeau, Mexico, Mt. Vernon, St. James, St. Louis and Warrensburg, with 1,238 skilled nursing beds. The 2026 monthly rate is $2,773, which covers nursing, therapy, medication management, meals and rides to VA appointments.

To be admitted you need VA veteran status, 180 straight days of Missouri residency right before applying, and a doctor's statement that you need 24-hour skilled nursing care. One waitlist application works for all seven homes, and new residents start in a shared room.

The commission also offers a service officer locator for help with VA claims, a burial pre-certification application for its veterans cemeteries, and a benefits portal at veteranbenefits.mo.gov.

SNAP is run by the DSS Family Support Division and loaded onto an EBT card. USDA approved a Missouri waiver to remove candy, prepared desserts and certain drinks from SNAP purchases. In June 2026 it moved the start date to February 15, 2027 and revised the list.

LIHEAP Energy Assistance is a one-time payment for one fuel type toward heating or cooling, October to May. The Energy Crisis Intervention Program helps when service is about to be cut off: up to $800 from November to May and up to $300 from June to September, as funding allows.

Households need $3,000 or less in bank, retirement or investment accounts. Applications go to a local contracted agency, which reviews them in about 30 business days unless there is a crisis. Keep paying what you can on the bill while you wait.

For SNAP income limits, benefit amounts and the steps to apply, see our Missouri food stamps guide.