Bills · 2009-2010 Regular Session
disregarding a spouse's income for purposes of eligibility for the Medical Assistance Purchase Plan.
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, under the Medical Assistance (MA) program, which is
administered by the Department of Health Services (DHS) and under which eligible
persons receive health care or long-term care services, an individual who would be
eligible for MA based on eligibility for supplemental security income (SSI), but who
is not eligible for SSI because he or she is employed, may pay premiums for coverage
under MA if his or her family's net income is less than 250 percent of the poverty line
and his or her assets do not exceed $15,000. This subprogram is known as the "MA
purchase plan."
This bill requires DHS to request a waiver from the secretary of the federal
Department of Health and Human Services that would allow DHS, if the waiver is
granted, to disregard the income of a married individual's spouse, and to treat the
individual as single, when determining the individual's eligibility and continued
eligibility for the MA purchase plan.