Medicaid is the largest source of health coverage in the United States. It provides health coverage to over 73 million Americans, including parents, children, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, and seniors. It is a health program run jointly by the Federal and state government and the children’s health insurance program.
All low-income children, adults, and seniors can access health care and medical services if they meet the Medicaid eligibility requirements and guidelines. It is hard to qualify for the Medicaid program regarding income as you must show that you have financial hardship for day-to-day needs.
You have to examine your family sizes, like the total people living in your household and your modified adjusted gross income with your total income from all sources. To qualify for Medicaid, your total household income must not exceed more than 138% of the federal poverty level based on your household size. For example, if your family has three members, their total income cannot exceed $27,821.
In this article, we have mentioned all the aspects of income for an individual to get Medicaid. If you want to know more about it, keep on reading!
Income Eligibility Requirements
Let’s use an example to see whether you can qualify for the Medicaid health program or not. Suppose, when you are single and living by yourself, your payment cannot exceed the limit of $16,395 a year. In that case, you have to calculate household members and income in your household and modify adjusted gross income, also the payment of all the members from all sources.
If you have a spouse or share your home with another housemate, your joint income cannot exceed $22,110 a year. Here we have listed the information that can help you to qualify based on your family size.
- If you are living alone, your income cannot exceed 16,400$.
- When you have a family of 2-3, your payment can be between 20,000$ to 28,000$.
- If you live in a household with four family members, your income must be less than 33,534$.
The Affordable Care Act adopts the new methodology for determining eligibility for Medicaid based on MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income). This modification system is used to determine the income eligibility for Medicaid, premium tax credit, and Chip.
Some specific Medicaid groups don’t need any income determination by the Medicaid agency because their coverage may be based on enrollment in another plan like the breast and cervical cancer treatment and prevention program.
🡺 READ MORE: When will the Medicaid program run out of money?
Who is Eligible for Medicaid?
Medicaid is a health program that supports all low-income individuals to access healthcare and medical services, among other programs; also, you must have permanent US residency or nationality to qualify.
If you are a senior citizen, pregnant, under the age of 21, living in an intermediate care home, disabled, or blind, you will get the benefits of Medicaid health coverage.
- You can also qualify for the program to get health insurance benefits if you are already enrolled and receive gifts from one or more programs such as refugee assistance, supplement security income, or state supplementary payment.
If you are taking care of a child under the age of 21, as a parent or guardian, you will also qualify for assistance because the parents have died or do not live with the child.
Medicare health plan offers more than ten services, including outpatient, prescription medications, dental and vision care, maternity and newborn care, and physical and occupational therapy. You can get all these benefits when you qualify for Medicaid health coverage.