Home Eligibility Tags

View the Latest: Eligibility

Filter

List Grid

121 - 130 of 225 Results

  • Implications of the Expiration of Medicaid Long-Term Care Spousal Impoverishment Rules for Community Integration

    Issue Brief

    To financially qualify for Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS), an individual must have a low income and limited assets. In response to concerns that these rules could leave a spouse without adequate means of support when a married individual needs LTSS, Congress created the spousal impoverishment rules in 1988. Originally, these rules required states to protect a portion of a married couple’s income and assets to provide for the “community spouse’s” living expenses when determining nursing home financial eligibility, but gave states the option to apply the rules to home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers.
    Section 2404 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) changed the spousal impoverishment rules to treat Medicaid HCBS and institutional care equally from January 2014 through December 2018. Congress subsequently extended Section 2404 through December 2019. This issue brief answers key questions about the spousal impoverishment rules, presents 50-state data from a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation survey about state policies and future plans in this area, and considers the implications if Congress does not further extend Section 2404.

  • Medicaid Spending, Enrollment and Policy Trends: A View from the States

    Event Date:
    Event

    On Friday, Oct. 18, KFF released its 19th annual 50-state Medicaid budget survey for state fiscal years 2019 and 2020. KFF and the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) held a joint briefing to discuss trends in enrollment and spending and highlight key Medicaid policy developments.

  • February State Data for Medicaid Work Requirements in Arkansas

    Issue Brief

    Arkansas is one of seven states for which CMS has approved a Section 1115 waiver to condition Medicaid eligibility on meeting work and reporting requirements and the first state to implement this type of waiver. The new requirements were phased in for most enrollees ages 30-49 beginning in June 2018, and for individuals ages 19-29 starting in January 2019. Unless exempt, enrollees must engage in 80 hours of work or other qualifying activities each month and must report their work or exemption status by the 5th of the following month using an online portal; as of mid-December 2018, they also may report by phone. Monthly data related to the new requirements released by the Arkansas Department of Human Services show that over 18,000 people were disenrolled from Medicaid for failure to comply with the new requirements in 2018. Those who fail to comply with the requirements for any three months in 2019 can lose coverage beginning in April 2019. This brief looks at data for January 2019. Separate reports look at early implementation of the new requirements and enrollee experiences.

  • Key Themes in Medicaid Section 1115 Behavioral Health Waivers

    Issue Brief

    State interest in Medicaid Section 1115 behavioral health waivers, including mental health and substance use disorders, remains high. As of November, 2017, there are 15 approved and 11 pending behavioral health waivers in 22 states. This issue brief describes recent waiver activity in four areas: using Medicaid funds to pay for substance use and/or mental health services in “institutions for mental disease” (IMDs), expanding community-based behavioral health benefits, expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover additional people with behavioral health needs, and financing delivery system reforms.

  • Managing a High Performing Medicaid Program

    Report

    This report discusses key responsibilities that the federal government and states hold for managing the Medicaid program and identifies the key issues and challenges states face as they transform the way they do business and achieve key national goals. The paper relies on an extensive review of federal and state administrative responsibilities drawn from statute, regulation, and relevant literature, coupled with discussions with six current Medicaid directors.

  • Aligning Eligibility for Children: Moving the Stairstep Kids to Medicaid

    Issue Brief

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that Medicaid cover children with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) ($31,322 for a family of four in 2013) as of January 2014. Today, there are “stairstep” eligibility rules for children. States must cover children under the age of six in families with income of at least 133 percent of the FPL in Medicaid while older children and teens with incomes above 100 percent of the FPL may be covered in separate state Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) or Medicaid at state option. While many states already cover children in Medicaid with income up to 133 percent FPL, due to the change in law, 21 states needed to transition some children from CHIP to Medicaid. This brief examines how the transition of children from CHIP to Medicaid will affect children and families as well as states. The brief also looks to New York and Colorado for lessons learned from the early transition of coverage.