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MEDICAL SERVICES POLICY MANUAL,SECTION O

Deprivation Due to Unemployment of the Principal Wage Earner MS Manual 01/01/23 Deprivation due to unemploymentmust be basedon the parent who has been the principal wage earner (PWE) for the past two (2) years. The PWE is the parent who earned the greater amount of income during the twenty-four (24) month period which immediately precedes the month in which application for assistance is made. The earnings of each parent are considered in determining the principal wage earner regardless of when their relationship began. Only one (1) parent can be the PWE. Unemployed means: 1. The principal wage earner is not employedor is employed less thanone hundred (100) hours a month; or 2. If one hundred (100) hours or more were worked in a particular month because the work was intermittent and the excess was temporary, the PWE must have been under the one hundred (100) hour standard for the two (2) prior months and is expected to be under the standard for the following month. The PWE must meet each of the following criteria at initial application, or during the month of application, in order for Health Care coverage to begin in the month of application (see note below): 1. Must have been unemployed for at least thirty (30) consecutive days or is employed less than one hundred (100) hours a month; 2. Must have had six (6) quarters of work within any thirteen (13) calendar quarter period ending within one (1) year prior to application or received unemployment compensation within one (1) year prior to application. For the six (6) quarters of work, education may be substituted for up to four (4) of the six (6) quarters; 3. Must not, without good cause, have refused a bona fide offer of employment or training for employment within the last thirty (30) days; and 4. Must not have refused to apply for or accept unemployment compensation if qualified. NOTE:If an applicant does not meet the above criteria at application, or during the month of application, eligibility cannot begin until the first day of the month in which the criteria are met. EXAMPLE:An individual loses his job on May 15 and applies for UP-MN on May 16. He worked one hundred ten (110) hours in May before losing his job. He will not have been unemployed for 30 consecutive days by the end of May; therefore, his family will not be eligible for Health Care during May. He will have been unemployed for thirty (30) days on June 14, however.Assuming all other eligibility criteria are met, Health Care benefits could begin June 1. O 400 Medically Needy Eligibility Determination