PA: Children's Medical Assistance Benefits

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A L E R T !

As of October 18, 2004, children with disabilities who apply for Medical

Assistance (MA) will no longer be rejected on the basis of their receipt of

Social

Security Disability Benefits (benefits that they receive as a result of the

death, disability or retirement of a parent).

In Pennsylvania, children with disabilities have been enrolled in Medical

Assistance (MA) without regard to the amount of their parent’s income for many

years now. Income in a child’s name however, does count against them in

determining MA eligibility. Until this year, if a child with a disability lost a

working parent (or the parent become disabled or retired), and as a result the

child began to receive SSDI benefits, the child would become ineligible for MA.

This was a serious problem for children who lost the income of a parent and

had major uncovered medical expenses.

In January of this year, DPW issued a rule that a child who was currently on

MA in the “disabled child†category would not be thrown off as a result of

the receipt of these benefits. But the rule did not apply to children who were

applying for MA. As a result of concerns about this, raised by the

Disabilities Law Project, the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, and others, DPW

has now

issued a new rule to cover those children who were previously excluded – those

who are applying for MA in the “Disabled Child†category. The new rule is

attached below.

There continues to be some question of whether the “Disabled Child†category

includes people between the ages of 18 and 21. If you know a young person

with a disability between those ages who is unable to get MA as a result of SSDI

benefits, please contact PA. Protection and Advocacy (800)- 692-7443