601 General Information About Income

For some AHCCCS Medical Assistance (MA) programs, the budget group’s income must not be higher than the income limit for that program.  How income is calculated and the income limits are not the same for all programs.

The income of budget group members may be considered available to the customer when determining eligibility.  (See MA602 for information about income budget groups.)

Policy

1)    Programs with Income Eligibility Requirements

The MA programs that have an income limit to qualify are:

·        ALTCS;

·        SSI-MAO;

·        Medicare Savings Program (MSP);

·        Freedom to Work (FTW);

·        Adult;

·        Caretaker Relative;

NOTE      Including an income limit for the second six-month Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) extension.

·        Pregnant Woman;

·        Child;

·        KidsCare.

Some MA programs have an income limit, but income eligibility is determined by another agency (see MA400):

·        SSI Cash;

·        Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program (BCCTP); and

·        Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Subsidy.

2)    Income Categories

Income is divided into two categories, earned and unearned:

·        Earned income is received from employment or self-employment.  It may be received as wages, salaries, commissions or profits. 

NOTE      Earned income may also be received as goods or services other than cash in return for work.  Goods and services received in return for work are also known as bartering income or in-kind income.  The value of the goods or services received is considered the income amount received.

·        Unearned income is cash income received from sources other than employment or self-employment.

Within each category there are many types of income. 

NOTE      Some unearned incomes may receive a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) increase.

3)    Treatment of Income

Depending on the program, each type of income is either counted or excluded.  See MA606 for treatment of each type of income.

NOTE     Always use the gross amount of USD when determining eligibility and entering amounts into the system.  The gross amount of income paid in foreign money can be converted to USD using the online calculator at http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/.

4)    Modified Adjusted Gross Income

Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is a method for determining:

·        How income is counted;

·        Whose income is counted (the budget group); and

·        The income limit based on the size of the budget group.

Beginning January 1, 2014, the following programs will use MAGI to determine income eligibility:

·        Adult;

·        Caretaker Relative;

NOTE      Including Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) and Continuous Coverage (CC).

·        Pregnant Woman;

·        Child; and

·        KidsCare.

NOTE          The programs that do not use MAGI rules are referred to as “Non-MAGI” throughout this Chapter.

Definitions

Proof

The Agency uses the reasonable compatibility standard to verify income.  Income information for the members of the budget group is collected through the Federal and State Data Services Hubs, if available, and then compared to the income information reported on the application to see if it is reasonably compatible.  See MA605.A for details.