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Friday, May 1, 2009

Medicaid Health Insurance: Are You Qualified?

By Don Bethune

Medicaid is for people who fall into low income groups. Many do not have adequate medical insurance. Others have none at all. The Federal government has established guidelines for Medicaid, but the program is really administered separately by each state. To find out if you are eligible for Medicaid, you must contact your State Agency.

KEY ELIGIBILITY GROUPS
States are required to include certain types of individuals or eligibility groups under their Medicaid plans and they may include others. Statesa eligibility groups will be considered one of the following: categorically needy, medically needy, or special groups. Following are brief descriptions of some of the key eligibility groups included under Statesa plans. These descriptions do not include all groups. Contact your state for more information on all Medicaid groups in your state.

CATEGORICALLY NEEDY
1. Families who meet statesa Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) eligibility requirements in effect on July 16, 1996.
2. Pregnant women and children under age 6 whose family income is at or below 133 % of the Federal poverty level.
3. Children ages 6 to 19 with family income up to 100% of the Federal poverty level.
4. Individuals and couples who are living in medical institutions and who have monthly income up to 300% of the SSI income standard (Federal benefit rate).

MEDICALLY NEEDY Children below the ages of nineteen to twenty one or those who are under nineteen and are full time students may qualify to be included in this category. The state may choose not to qualify all of these children. In this case, it can limit services to what is termed areasonable groups of childrena. This category may also apply to people who are over the age of sixty five. It may also include people who are blind as determined by the SSI program standards or the standards of the state. People with disabilities - as determined by the SSI program standards or the standards of the state - may also be included in this category.

SPECIAL GROUPS Medicare Beneficiaries who qualify under #8221Medicaid are paid Medicare premiums, deductibles and coinsurance. These people are termed as Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMB). Under #8221 people whose income that falls equal to or less than a hundred percent of the Federal poverty level with resources that are also equal to or less than two times the allowable standard in accordance with SSI might qualify. Furthermore, some groups may qualify for Medicare related expenses that are to be paid by Medicaid. Under #8221, Medicare beneficiaries whose income is greater than a hundred percent while remaining less than one hundred and thirty five percent of the Federal poverty level might also qualify.

When your eligibility has been determined, it may be possible for you to receive retroactive payments for up to three months prior to the time your application was filed. This determination will be based upon whether or not you could have been eligible during those three months. Naturally, if your circumstances improve and you become ineligible, your coverage will cease at the end of the month during which the improvement happened. A lot of states have a astate-onlya program in that supplements Medicaid. This program is especially designed to provide medical assistance to people who fall through the cracks. These are the people who have limited resources and income but canat qualify for the Medicaid program. This sort of state-only program does not get any Federal funding.

Mainly, the people who are eligible for getting Medicaid are people with low income levels or families with low household income as stated in the rules and eligibility requirements set by the state you are a resident in. You need to meet these requirements in order to qualify for the Medicaid insurance coverage.

Be sure to contact your state to find out about its laws before you apply for Medicaid. In that way, you will know what the requirements are in advance. If you want to know more, you can visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/eligibility or http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/whoiseligible.asp).

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