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MEDICAL SERVICES POLICY MANUAL, SECTION E

E 522 Determining Value of Personal Property

E-522 Determining Value of Personal Property MS Manual 09/01/26 Listed below are various types of commonly held assets which are countable resources. The listing also describes how their resource value is determined. Verification of countable resources is required unless the client’s declaration of the resource value would cause total countable resources to exceed the countable resource limit. 1. Cash - Cash consists of money which is on hand in the form of currency or coins. Foreign currency or coins are cash to the extent that they can be exchanged for United States issue. (Coin collections, however, are not considered to be cash, even though they are a resource. Their value is based on collector’s value which is determined by contact with a knowledgeable source.) Cash on hand includes amounts that the individual has on his person, amounts that he has at home, and amounts being held for him elsewhere.

The total amount of cash on hand (excluding amounts which were received during the month and counted as income) is a countable resource. The individual’s allegation of actual cash on hand is accepted as verification.

2. Checking or Savings Accounts - Assets of an individually held checking or savings account (including patient fund accounts managed by a facility for an individual) will be considered a resource to the individual when he or she has unrestricted access to the account. The resources of a jointly held account are presumed to be fully available to an eligible individual when he or she is the only party to the account eligible for assistance. However, when all parties to a jointly held account are receiving or have applied for assistance under the same program, the resources of the account are presumed to be divided equally among the eligibles who have access to the account.

An otherwise eligible individual, who is a joint account holder with unrestricted access to the account, will be offered an opportunity to rebut the presumption. To rebut the presumption of full or partial ownership, the individual must provide all of the following evidence within 30 days:

a. A written statement by the individual giving his allegation regarding ownership of the funds for the applicable period, the reason for establishing the joint