Income limits to qualify for Medicaid as an adult

[Deleted]

See my bolded comments...Holy hell that's not enough to buy a bus pass.





'Dialing for TennCare' signup is set for Sept. 13

State to take calls for 2,500 applications


4:36 AM, Aug 21, 2012 |
Comments



Written by

Tom Wilemon

The Tennessean



Dialing for TennCare

When: 6 p.m. (CST) Sept. 13
What: A Medicaid waiver program for people who do not already have TennCare
The number: 1-866-358-3230














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The fifth round of dialing for health care occurs Sept. 13 when Tennessee will open the phone lines for one night only so people with low incomes and high medical bills can call a number to ask for a TennCare application.

The phone line opens at 6 p.m. and closes once 2,500 applicants are registered. Phone lines have shut down in about an hour during past call-ins.

The competitive dialing system is how the state limits the deluge of applicants for a Medicaid waiver program, the TennCare Standard Spend Down. Critics complain it unfairly pits the disabled against people with faster fingers and quicker minds, but state officials say Tennessee does not have the manpower to handle an open-ended application system.

The program, which has 3,500 slots available for coverage, has an average enrollment of 1,000. Money budgeted to help people with medical costs goes unspent.

“It is an ineffective and discriminatory process,” said Carol Westlake, executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition.

People already on TennCare have called during past enrollments, clogging up application opportunities for people seeking the Medicaid coverage.

Who shouldn't call

“If you are already on TennCare, please don’t call,” said Michele Johnson, managing attorney for the Tennessee Justice Center, an advocacy organization for low-income people without health insurance.

That message is repeated in capital letters on a flier that the organization is distributing statewide this week.

TennCare asks all prospective applicants to check the eligibility requirements before calling. The eligibility requirements are posted at www.tn.gov/TennCare.

The program is open to a limited number of qualified low-income individuals with high, unpaid medical bills who are elderly, blind, disabled or the caretaker of a Medicaid-eligible child. The monthly income limits are $241 for an individual or $392 for a family of five.

Applicants cannot have resources that exceed $2,000 for a family of one or $3,000 for a family of two. For every additional household family member, the resource limit goes up $100.
Although the Medicaid waiver program is administered by TennCare, the applications are handled by the Tennessee Department of Human Services.

[ECB]

I've recently started looking into possible sources of help for my aunt. She is really sick, her income doesn't meet her monthly bills, she's on Cobra, blah blah blah.

I've been pretty stunned at the levels at which you have to be at in order to receive help. I get it that a line has to be drawn somewhere, but holy crap - she's in a pretty bad spot but she is SOOOOO far above the line, it's shocking to me. And she not making a lot - at all. It's all disability. But she's not disabled "enough" and isn't broke "enough".

For the fact that enough people fall below the lines that resources are stretched thin as it is.... it makes the state of our country even more concerning. The rich are getting richer and all that.

[summer]

This actually made me say "Fuck all you, hos!" outloud in the waiting room of DDs ballet class.

Really, America? People can't have a pot to piss in before you give them 1/2 a chance at help??? And not all of these people will make the cut because of budget limitations.

But good thing all those 1%'s are lining up with all those charities and private enterprises to fill the gap!

The program is open to a limited number of qualified low-income individuals with high, unpaid medical bills who are elderly, blind, disabled or the caretaker of a Medicaid-eligible child. The monthly income limits are $241 for an individual or $392 for a family of five.

Applicants cannot have resources that exceed $2,000 for a family of one or $3,000 for a family of two. For every additional household family member, the resource limit goes up $100.

[charminglife]

So what happens to the people who aren't part of the 'lucky' 2500 that get registered for an application?

[summer]

Aug 21, 2012 8:40:47 GMT -5 charminglife said:

So what happens to the people who aren't part of the 'lucky' 2500 that get registered for an application?

Fuck 'em. They should've had a job with benefits.

[Deleted]

My brother makes too much to get on Medicaid with his high roller burger joint paycheck. And individual insurance for someone with a mental illness? Totes affordable!

I seriously just do not understand how the market-based solutions are supposed to work for someone like him. Because, you know, poor people's major depressive disorder costs less to treat than rich people's. Or something.

Too poor to afford mental health treatment and too mentall ill to better your financial situation? I guess it's just fuck you, loser.

[SusanBAnthony]

My uncle got cancer at age 40, couldn't keep working, got on disability. The only way he could be insured was that my gap, his dad, paid his cobra. The only way he could afford to live was that he used to work for the railroad, and was going to get a tiny tiny pension from them, but as a pension holder he was entitled to additional disability from them.

It was insane, and really really sad. He died a year ago. If he had somehow beat the cancer he still never would have been able to work as he had a lot of side effects from the heavy chemo, but he would have had to be uninsured at some point as cobra would have run out. He had a decent retirement savings, but he would have burned through that well before age 65 if he was paying all medical expenses OOP. I guess maybe he would have qualified for a high risk pool for 1000+ a month.

The whole thing is just horrifying.

[pixy0stix]

It's hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, when you can't afford bootstraps.

People who are so down on "entitlement" programs and whine, "It's my money!" I don't think fully understand the levels you have to be at to qualify.

[casmgn]

Aug 21, 2012 9:18:00 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

It's hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, when you can't afford bootstraps.

People who are so down on "entitlement" programs and whine, "It's my money!" I don't think fully understand the levels you have to be at to qualify.

I completely agree.