With more people scheduled to be added to the Medicaid rolls in 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is asking for public input on determining who will be eligible.
The Affordable Care Act, which has its fate in the hands of the Supreme Court, changes Medicaid eligibility in 2014 so that it is based on the applicant’s modified adjusted gross income rather than categories. The new guidelines in the ACA would expand Medicaid to people with income up to 133% of the federal poverty level. Medicaid pays for a large chunk of skilled nursing care.
Each state will have to submit a plan for changing from the old eligibility system to the new income-based system.
CMS has said it wants public input on potential methodologies that states can use to do income conversion, which are called the “average disregard method” or the “same number net and gross method.” Comments should be submitted by July 23 to incomeconversion (at) cms.hhs.gov.
