Asset Test for Parents
States can cover more people by eliminating the “asset test” for parents.1 The asset test counts parents’ ownership of certain assets when determining the family’s eligibility for Medicaid. Eliminating this test serves multiple purposes, including easing the application process, streamlining and reducing administrative costs and increasing the pool of eligible people.
States must eliminate the asset test for most Medicaid applicants by 2014.
Has the state eliminated the asset test for parents, thereby facilitating the application process and increasing the pool of eligible people?
States receive a "meets policy" if they do not count parents' ownership of assets when determining their eligibility for Medicaid. States receive a "harmful policy" if they apply an asset test to the application process.
| State | Strength of Policy | Change from 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Meets Policy | Same |
| Alaska | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Arizona | Meets Policy | Same |
| Arkansas | Harmful Policy | Same |
| California | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Colorado | Meets Policy | Better |
| Connecticut | Meets Policy | Same |
| Delaware | Meets Policy | Same |
| District of Columbia | Meets Policy | Same |
| Florida | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Georgia | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Hawaii | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Idaho | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Illinois | Meets Policy | Same |
| Indiana | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Iowa | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Kansas | Meets Policy | Same |
| Kentucky | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Louisiana | Meets Policy | Same |
| Maine | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Maryland | Meets Policy | Better |
| Massachusetts | Meets Policy | Same |
| Michigan | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Minnesota | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Mississippi | Meets Policy | Same |
| Missouri | Meets Policy | Same |
| Montana | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Nebraska | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Nevada | Harmful Policy | Same |
| New Hampshire | Harmful Policy | Same |
| New Jersey | Meets Policy | Same |
| New Mexico | Meets Policy | Same |
| New York | Meets Policy | Better |
| North Carolina | Harmful Policy | Same |
| North Dakota | Meets Policy | Same |
| Ohio | Meets Policy | Same |
| Oklahoma | Meets Policy | Same |
| Oregon | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Pennsylvania | Meets Policy | Same |
| Rhode Island | Meets Policy | Same |
| South Carolina | Harmful Policy | Same |
| South Dakota | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Tennessee | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Texas | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Utah | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Vermont | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Virginia | Meets Policy | Same |
| Washington | Harmful Policy | Same |
| West Virginia | Harmful Policy | Same |
| Wisconsin | Meets Policy | Same |
| Wyoming | Meets Policy | Same |
Data Source: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. A Foundation for Health Reform: Findings of An Annual 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP for Children and Parents During 2009, "Enrollment: Selected Simplified Procedures in Medicaid for Parents with Comparisons to Children (Table 8),” available at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8028_T.pdf, accessed September 7, 2010.
Footnotes
1 Assets (or resources) refer to items of personal or real property. State Medicaid programs determine resource standards that are then measured against the individual’s assets. If these assets are less than the standard, the individual meets the asset test. Assets that are countable are generally not homes, furniture or clothes. Savings accounts can be counted, although the entire value of the account is not always included. Cars can be counted, although this differs across states (i.e., some states do not count cars at all, some count only a second car, and others disregard a car up to a certain value). Generally, asset limits are very low, ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 dollars. 42 U.S.C. § 1396u-1(b)(2)(c) (1999).
