STATE OF ALASKA

Department of Health and Social Services

Division of Public Assistance

TRANSMITTAL NUMBER:  MC #20

MANUAL:  MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid program

DATE: December 1, 2022

This year Social Security announced a 8.7% COLACost of Living Allowance increase that effects the Parent/Caretaker Relative and Under 21 Medicaid categories starting in January of 2023. We have also made several changes to clarify existing policy as a result of policy questions or suggestions from the field. An overview of the changes are listed below.

If you have any questions, please contact the Policy and Program Development Team at hss.dpa.policy@alaska.gov.

OVERVIEW OF CHANGES

ENTIRE MANUAL

• Changed all references from DHSSDepartment of Health and Social Services (State) to DOHDepartment of Health.

806-1(A)   Acceptable Applications

• Clarified if an individual applies for Medicaid using the MED 4Medicaid Application for Adults and Children with Long Term Care Needs and is found ineligible for LTCLong Term Care, a MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid determination can be made without requiring a GEN 50CApplication for Services to be completed.The caseworker must gather the additional information needed for a MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid determination, such as tax filing/tax dependency information, prior to making the eligibility decision.

808-5(B)   Non-Immigrants

• Changed reference to USCISU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services documentation from paragraph to list format.

808-6(G)   Proof of Qualified Alien Status

• Removed link for NCOSC website that no longer provides the information needed in this section. Updated to USCISU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

816     MAGI Medicaid Categories 

• Due to a change in federal law effective January 1, 2023, added a note clarifying that if we have verification that an individual is eligible for the FFCFormer Foster Care category but do not have the verification needed for another category higher on the hierarchy list, we should authorize benefits in the FFCFormer Foster Care category without asking the individual to provide any information needed to make an eligibility decision in another category. 

816-1(B)   Pregnant Women

• Clarified that for an ongoing Medicaid case, pregnancy coding cannot be provided earlier that the month in which report of change was received.
• Added an example.

816-1(F)   Former Foster Care (FFC) 

• Due to a change in federal law effective January 1, 2023, revised the eligibility criteria for this group to include individuals who aged out of state or tribal foster care in any state.
• Added note clarifying that effective January 1, 2023, if we have verification that an individual is eligible for the FFCFormer Foster Care category but do not have the verification needed for another category higher on the hierarchy list, we should authorize benefits in the FFCFormer Foster Care category without asking the individual to provide any information needed to make an eligibility decision in another category.
• Changed OCSOffice of Children's Services contact.
• Revised dates in the example.

823-1(A)   Federal Data Services HUB

• Added Verify Current Income (Work Number) as an additional HUB data source.

823-1(B)   Other Electronic Data Sources

• Clarified IEVSInstant Eligibility Verification System is used to check PFDPermanent Fund Dividend and Quarterly Wage.
• Revised verbiage in charts for clarity.
• Removed "NFIN" from CSSDChild Support Services Division section as this is an accronym for the NSTAR Financial System, which is no longer used.
• Revised example for clarity.

825   Coordination with Federally Facilitated Marketplace

• Clarified that when an individual is found ineligible for Medicaid (denial or termination), their information must be electronically transferred to the FFMFederally Facilitated Marketplace so that they an determine their eligibility for a QHPQualified Health Plan. Individuals who are found ineligible for Medicaid due to procedural reasons and those who do not attest to U.S. citizenship, or a lawfully present non-citizen status should not be referred to the FFMFederally Facilitated Marketplace. 
• Provided examples of procedural denials and terminations. 

827   Retroactive Medicaid

• Changed verbiage from "applicant or recipient" to "individual" for clarity.

833(A)   Eligibility

• Updated Field Services email to DOSTDivision Operation Support Team.
• Clarified that the approved hospital list is now found online under the MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid manual since the ET Resources webpage as removed.
• Added revised MIBWMedical Insurance Budget Worksheet Subtype Worksheet to include the Parent/Caretaker Relative and Under 21 standards as of January 2023.

Addendum 1   MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid Income Standards

• Updated the Parent and Caretaker Relatives and Under 21 standards due to the 8.7% COLACost of Living Allowance increase.