October’s annual SNAP adjustments raise several familiar figures, including the standard deduction and the cap on excess shelter costs. One number does not move: the threshold for the medical-expense deduction remains $35 a month. For households with an older or disabled member, only unreimbursed medical costs above that floor enter the calculation. The contrast is notable because the surrounding indexed amounts rise with the new fiscal year, while the medical threshold is carried forward unchanged.
The Medical Deduction Still Starts Above $35
SNAP’s medical deduction is available to households with a member who is 60 or older or has a qualifying disability. It is not a flat credit added to every case. The program counts allowable unreimbursed medical expenses only after they exceed $35 in a month, so the threshold determines where the deduction begins rather than the total value of the costs reported.
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service lists expenses such as medical and dental care, prescription drugs, Medicare premiums, transportation to obtain care and certain attendant costs among the kinds of expenses that may be considered. The agency’s elderly and disabled household rules also notes that fewer than one in five older adults participating in SNAP claim the medical deduction, a sign that the provision is narrower and more document-dependent than its name suggests.
The new fiscal-year materials leave the $35 floor in place. The FY2027 COLA memo matches the FY2026 threshold, meaning a cost that sits at or below that level does not create a medical deduction merely because the calendar changes. That is distinct from the annual adjustment of fixed amounts elsewhere in the SNAP formula.
What ends coverage most often: Not ineligibility, but a renewal packet returned late or missing one document. See the renewal document checklist in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
The Amounts That Do Increase on October 1
For a one-, two- or three-person household, the standard deduction rises from $209 to $217 on October 1. The standard deduction is applied before the program considers deductions tied to a household’s particular costs, which is why it affects a much broader group than the elderly-or-disabled medical provision.
The excess shelter deduction cap also rises, from $744 to $769. That cap generally limits the amount of shelter cost that can reduce countable income, though households containing an elderly or disabled member can receive uncapped excess shelter treatment under the separate SNAP rules. The increase is therefore relevant to many budgets, but it does not replace the medical-deduction floor.
USDA’s FY2027 table also lifts the homeless shelter deduction from $198.99 to $205.66. Those three movements show the pattern of the October update: indexed fixed deductions and caps adjust, while the medical threshold stays at $35. The memo does not convert the unchanged floor into an inflation adjustment or a different eligibility test.
The yearly update therefore has two layers. It changes published dollar standards that USDA indexes for the fiscal year, and it leaves in place a medical-expense entry point set by the program rule. A household may see its standard deduction or shelter calculation change on October 1 without seeing the first $35 of medical costs begin to count. That is why the unchanged medical line should not be read as evidence that all SNAP deduction amounts are frozen.
Why an Unchanged Floor Can Still Matter
A fixed floor means that the first $35 of qualifying unreimbursed medical costs remains outside the deduction calculation even as other SNAP figures rise. The policy does not say medical costs are unimportant; it sets a line between ordinary expenses and the portion that can reduce countable income for the eligible household category.
The distinction also explains why a comparison of benefit standards cannot be reduced to one number. The standard deduction is available across household types, the shelter cap applies through a separate calculation, and the medical deduction is limited to older or disabled household members with qualifying costs above the floor. Each enters the budget at a different point.
For fiscal year 2027, the official record is unusually clear on the contrast. USDA’s COLA memo provides the new October amounts, while the medical floor remains the same one shown in the prior year’s schedule. That steady $35 line is the constant inside an otherwise changing set of SNAP deduction figures.
Where Medical Costs Meet Renewal Paperwork
A medical deduction depends on the household category, the expenses that fit the program rule and the point at which a state reviews the certification. The changing October figures make it useful to keep a renewal date separate from the expense records that support a SNAP budget.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer is a 13-page organizer with a renewal and reporting calendar and 51 state packs for program deadlines.
See the renewal document checklist in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Money Overview editorial team.
