The Department of Health Care Services issued All-County Welfare Director Letter 14-12E this week. This letter, accessible here, corrects the A&D income limit for couples from $1,641 to $1,621 (100% FPL of $1,311 plus $310 disregard).
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
DHCS ACWDL 14-17: Treatment of Student Earned Income Exclusion (4/4/14)
This letter informs counties of an increase in student income deductions for working students under 22 in an MFBU with an aged, blind or disabled individual. This change should be applied retroactively.
ACL 14-27: County TANF Program Work Participation Data Reporting (FFY 20014) (4/2/14)
Updated instructions on WPR reporting, including clarifications regarding holidays being in addition to excused absences, the updated activities definitions (including voc ed reporting), etc. “To help preserve months countable toward the vocational education federal 12-month limit when clients choose to utilize their welfare-to-work 24-month time clock, counties are reminded that if participation in other federally allowable activities meets or exceeds the hourly participation requirement, then the hours of participation in vocational education training would not count toward the 12-month limit.” [Download]
ACL 14-29: Reporting Service Delivery Activities Related To Providing Mental Health Services To Children In Foster Care For The Period Of September 1, 2013 Through February 28, 2014, Due On May 1, 2014(Revised Progress Report Template) (3/28/14)
DSS issued this notice to provide counties with a revised progress report template for reporting their activities and progress related to implementation of Intensive Care Coordination , Intensive Home Based Services , and Therapeutic Foster Care for children and youth who meet Katie A. subclass criteria. [Download]
DHCS ACWDL 14-16: Refugee Medical Assistance and the Affordable Care Act (4/1/14)
In this letter, DHCS clarifies the redetermination process for beneficiaries on the Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) program. Currently, RMA provides Medi-Cal benefits to refugees (including asylees, trafficking victims and special immigrants without categorical linkage) for their first eight months in the United States. Post-ACA, RMA beneficiaries are still entitled to the full eight months but should be evaluated for MAGI Medi-Cal eligibility.
DHCS ACWDL 14-15: Processing Change of Circumstances Redeterminations for Pre-Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medi-Cal Beneficiaries (3/28/14)
As of 3/24/14, CalHEERS is able to process change of circumstance redeterminations. This letter directs counties to proceed with converting old potential MAGI-linked cases to MAGI cases using the instructions contained therein. This is not to affect existing pre-ACA cases until their 2014 annual redetermination.
If a pre-ACA case submits a change of circumstance, the county will request additional tax household information and process for MAGI eligibility through CalHEERS. If MAGI-eligible, the county will review the determination for potential negative action (e.g., ineligibility, share of cost, restricted scope of benefits) before approving for MAGI Medi-Cal.
The letter also presents a list of new Medi-Cal aid codes and their corresponding pre-MAGI codes.