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Aged and Disabled

States can expand income eligibility for low-income elderly and disabled populations. Medicaid is already a crucial source of coverage for more than 8 million disabled individuals, and provides supplementary coverage for more than six million Medicare beneficiaries.1

States must expand their Medicaid program to all adults under age 65 with incomes up to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level or FPL (that's about $14,440 for a single person or $29,000 for a family of four) by 2014.  Adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but who have incomes at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (that's $43,320 for a single person or $88,200 for a family of four) will be eligible for subsidies to help pay health insurance premiums and out-of-pockets costs starting in 2014.  These subsidies can be used for coverage purchased through new state-based "Health Insurance Exchanges."

Does the state Medicaid program cover the “aged and disabled” with incomes at or above 100 percent of the 2009 FPL?

Federal law requires state Medicaid programs to cover certain aged and disabled persons, primarily those who qualify for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. In addition, states have a variety of options to expand Medicaid coverage to aged, blind, and disabled residents beyond the federally-required minimum. States that have expanded eligibility for aged, blind, and disabled individuals with incomes at or above 100% of the federal poverty level receive a "meets policy." States that have expanded eligibility above the federally-required minimum level but maintain a level below 100% of FPL receive a "limited policy," and states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility for this population beyond the federally-required minimum receive a "no policy."

The source for this indicator has modified the way it reports eligibility data, necessitating a change in evaluation criteria. Consequently, there is no comparison to 2007.

State Strength of Policy Change from 2007
Alabama No Policy N/A
Alaska Meets Policy N/A
Arizona Meets Policy N/A
Arkansas No Policy N/A
California Meets Policy N/A
Colorado No Policy N/A
Connecticut No Policy N/A
Delaware No Policy N/A
District of Columbia Meets Policy N/A
Florida No Policy N/A
Georgia No Policy N/A
Hawaii Meets Policy N/A
Idaho Limited Policy N/A
Illinois No Policy N/A
Indiana Meets Policy N/A
Iowa No Policy N/A
Kansas No Policy N/A
Kentucky No Policy N/A
Louisiana No Policy N/A
Maine Meets Policy N/A
Maryland No Policy N/A
Massachusetts Meets Policy N/A
Michigan Meets Policy N/A
Minnesota Meets Policy N/A
Mississippi Limited Policy N/A
Missouri Limited Policy N/A
Montana No Policy N/A
Nebraska Meets Policy N/A
Nevada 2 Limited Policy N/A
New Hampshire Limited Policy N/A
New Jersey Meets Policy N/A
New Mexico No Policy N/A
New York Limited Policy N/A
North Carolina Meets Policy N/A
North Dakota No Policy N/A
Ohio No Policy N/A
Oklahoma Limited Policy N/A
Oregon No Policy N/A
Pennsylvania Meets Policy N/A
Rhode Island Meets Policy N/A
South Carolina Meets Policy N/A
South Dakota No Policy N/A
Tennessee No Policy N/A
Texas No Policy N/A
Utah Meets Policy N/A
Vermont Meets Policy N/A
Virginia Limited Policy N/A
Washington No Policy N/A
West Virginia No Policy N/A
Wisconsin Limited Policy N/A
Wyoming No Policy N/A

Policy Indicator Counts
Meets Policy: 
18
Limited Policy: 
9
Weak Policy: 
0
No/Harmful Policy: 
24
Better: 
0
Same: 
0
Worse: 
0

Data Source: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Income Eligibility Requirements including Income Levels, Disregards and Asset Limits for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled in Medicaid," 2009, available at http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparereport.jsp?rep=59&cat=4, accessed September 7, 2010.

Footnotes

1 Low-income elderly are referred to as “aged” in the Medicaid statute, where they are defined as being 65 or older. “Disability” is defined as “a physical or mental impairment that keeps a person from performing any ‘substantial’ work, and is expected to last 12 months or result in death.”  42 U.S.C. § 1396d(a)(iii, viii) (2008); Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “The Medicaid Program At A Glance, “ November 2008, available at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7235_03-2.pdf, accessed August 26, 2010.

2 In Nevada, the eligibility limit for individuals who are aged or blind and living independently is above the federally-required minimum.  The limit for individuals who are disabled is no greater than the federally-required minimum.

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